Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero
by Dis Lexic
Summary: Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I? Crossover elements.
1. Chapter 1

Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero

Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

 **Yeahhh, I really need to stop making promises I can't keep...I know that most people in the poll I put up seem to like the idea of Accelerator, but I sat down to write it and found that I had...absolutely nothing. Same with Imagine Breaker. Mostly, they were just silly ideas of our hero completely negating every attack sent his way and, while amusing, it wasn't really that fun. This on the other hand...well, lets just say that Needless and Worm actually share more than a few similarities. With that in mind, heres my idea. Bare in mind that I haven't finished the story yet (not even close), so I probably won't be continuing with this until I have. Anyway, lets get started! Enjoy!**

Chapter 1

You know, there are several things about dying that I never wanted to know. To start with, its bloody uncomfortable. Of course, being reborn is even more uncomfortable. Yea, I'm living proof that the Soul is real, despite the fact that I'm a sceptic at the best of times. Of course, that doesn't stop me from feeling like I've ether won the lottery or been sent here due to some horrific sin I committed in my last life. Why? Well, I'd been reborn in a world full of superpowered beings, but it wasn't one where heroes and villains balanced each other out and the heroes always win. It wasn't even My Hero Academia where EVERYONE has powers in one form or another. Oh no, I'm not that lucky. Instead, the world I now lived in was one where the greatest hero was actually its greatest potential threat and was definitely under threat from a bunch of OP monsters. Yep, I'd ended up being reborn in Worm. This is really gonna blow…

Interestingly enough, I ended up being reborn into the exact same town as I'd lived in in my last life and even went to school with my interdimensional duplicate...now that was fucking weird and caused me a minor existential crisis before I got my head on straight and managed to separate my new self from my old one. That didn't change the fact that passing 'myself' in the halls was incredibly strange. Fortunately, I was in a different class, so I didn't have to sit next to myself and a combination of already knowing everything and wanting to not end up in the same situation again meant that I was much better at, well, everything. Have I mentioned this is bloody weird yet?

* * *

Anyway, since I'm writing this, you can probably guess that my life wasn't all hunky dory with the only potential issues being falling afoul of a Villain or Endbringer to worry be (although to be fair, they were pretty big worries). No, I just had to end up in a horrific car crash during a trip to see my Grandparents, a crash that killed both my parents but somehow left me alive and only mildly banged up, a feat that the doctors said was nothing short of a miracle. Or a Trigger Event. Yeah, I ended up with powers from that, although I didn't find out until I got angry over all the false sympathy at the wake and nearly burnt the house down.

Yep, my power was heat based. I say heat not fire because to call me pyrokinetic would be like saying All Might just had super strength. It may appear to be the case, but the reality was much more. I didn't control fire, I controlled the vibrations of molecules, heating them up and burning everything I touched from within. There were plenty of powers that controlled fire, but mine is one of the strongest. And thats not arrogance talking, thats genuinely what the people up top concluded. Considering I could boil metal and even affect most 'indestructible' Capes, I'm inclined to agree. Oh, and I was also much more sturdy built than a normal Human, with most attacks that would cripple a normal person only causing bad bruising in me and my speed and strength were slightly higher than a well trained Humans. I wasn't indestructible by any means, but its still enough to allow me to shrug off attacks and keep fighting.

* * *

But thats for later. After my Parents died, I was taken in by my Aunt, a kind, if slightly ditzy woman who I had always liked, despite the few times I'd met her. See, my Mother was originally from America, having moved to Britain to attend University and ended up meeting my Father and staying there. Aunt May on the other hand still lived in America in a place that made me honestly think that whatever extra dimensional being that plonked me here was having a laugh. Yep, thats right, she lived in Brockton Bay. Great, this is gonna be a right pain in the arse…

Considering the circumstances of my move and the fact I had moved from England into an entirely different country, I was afforded some time of school to recover from it all. In truth though, I probably could have done without it. I'm the sort of person who deals with problems by doing something, not sitting around thinking. With that in mind, I decided that, if I had nothing else to do, I'd make a start on putting together my costume.

You might be wondering what I had in mind for it, whether I'd be a hero or a villain, but the truth is, I was just looking for something fun to do. It was odd as I'd never been a violent person in the past, but now that I was here and with enough power at my fingertips to turn a Human to ash in moments, the idea of a good fight was enough to get my blood boiling with anticipation. I had no intention of becoming a Villain, but I wasn't the type to save others . Oh, I'd probably help if they were right in front of me, I wasn't that cold hearted, but it wouldn't be to be a good samaritan. Oh no, not when I could get a decent fight out of the encounter!

I used the excuse of wanting to look around and get the lay of the land to move around, buying what I needed to put together my costume and made use of my Aunts unused basement, which I had claimed as my den, to do it. I don't think she even noticed what I was doing, but that wasn't exactly uncommon. She was the sort of person who tended to be airheaded and didn't notice things going on around her. Great news for me and my future career as a Cape!

* * *

It took me about two weeks to finish my costume, mainly because I had to experiment with my powers in order to fashion my mask properly and not melt it into a puddle of slag. However, after hours of hard work, it was finally done and I was stood in front of my mirror in my new get up. It consisted of a dark blue bodysuit that I'd obtained from a sports shop, black steel toe capped boots, metal bracers intended to serve as defence in close quarters that left my hands bare, a necessity for the use of my powers. A tattered, dark red cloak with a hood went over the top and a white, metal mask that looked like it had been machined rather than moulded like clay with a little help from my powers. Despite the fact it was clearly handmade, I was rather proud of my outfit, especially the mask.

I put my mask on, my yellow eyes clearly visible through the holes, and pulled my hood up over my silvery blonde hair. I smirked under my mask as my hands lit up with a ruddy glow and my eyes took on a bright, crimson hew in response to my powers activating

"Alright, lets see if this city is ready for me," I muttered.

* * *

Considering most of what I knew about the city came from reading Worm last time through and the small amount of exploring I'd done while piercing my costume together, I decided that the best place to go to get started was probably the docks. Yeah, it may be obvious, but I honestly don't care.

Using a combination of my enhanced physiology and the freerunning skills I'd gained in this life, I was able to traverse the rooftops of the many warehouses, occasionally helped along by melting handholds in the walls where I couldn't quite reach the next building. It was when I was crossing a particularly wide gap between warehouses when I realized that something was up. I was darting across an alley when I suddenly stepped on something, crushing it with a loud crunch. It also served to draw my attention to the fact that I could hear a low level scuttling sound around me. Curious, I lit up my palm, only to nearly jump out of my skin when I saw I was standing in a river of bugs, all heading in the same direction. I quickly jumped up, my hands sinking into the wall to hold me above the moving floor.

"What the hell?" I muttered, "What's...ah, Taylor, of course. Now then, lets see whats going on."

I turned and shimmied up the wall, taking off across the rooftops in the direction the bugs were going in. It didn't take me long to find it. A two story wearhouse, just like the others, but this one had people moving around it, all Aisan and wearing red and green. Ah, so that's when it was. I spotted a big, tattooed guy who had to be Lung and a glance up to the rooftop above him confirmed that Taylor was also present. Well, it looks like I wasn't the only one making my debut tonight. Still, unlike Taylor, Lung would be childs play for me. Between my bodies natural resistance to fire and heat based damage (I could handle molten metal bare handed. How do you think I made my mask?) and the fact my power could easily penetrate metal armour meant that there was little chance that Lung could beat me. Well, unless he gutted or crushed me with his draconic form, but I was confident that I could evade him if it came to that.

I was shaken from my musings by a loud buzzing sound and a loud cry from below as Taylor's swarm fell on the gang. I stood and padded over the roof I was on, making my way towards where Taylor was crouched. I had no intention of allowing the girl to get the shit scared out of her by Lung, even if it would cause canon to implode in on itself. Speaking of implosions...sort of, Lung chose that moment to release his explosion, sending the swarm scattering, followed by another a few seconds later. It was kinda hard to get an idea of how quickly events were happening in a story, but apparently it wasn't long between Taylors attempts because about 20 seconds later, Lung ignited, followed by his spine growing spines. I cursed and sped up, shooting across the gap still separating me from Taylor's building, just as Lung got a faceful of pepper. Now he was really pissed off. I jumped over the last gap, just as Taylor took off towards the fire escape. Apparently Lung had heard both of us as his hands snapped out, sending two blasts of fire, one at me and the other at Taylor. I ignored the flames licking at me, mainly because they felt more like a warm bath than the intensely hot flames they actually were, in favour of landing a powerful drop kick to Lung's head that probably rattled his brain something fierce.

"Hey Lizardface, pick on someone your own size!" I yelled.

"Wha...who you?!" snarled the Villain as he tried to see through the damage done to his eyes.

I opened my mouth, only to hesitate as I realized I had no idea what to call myself.

"Er, I didn't think of that," I said awkwardly, "This is my first night on the job, soooo…."

Lung looked taken aback at that, before he scoffed.

"You not smart to pick a fight with me," he said, "This first night will be your last!"

He raised his hands and unleashed another wave of fire. I responded by punching it, causing the wave to separate and flow around me. No idea how that worked, but I'm going to assume its Cape bullshit. Lung looked surprised that his attack had done absolutely nothing to me. Hell, my cloak wasn't even singed.

"Sorry Lizardface, but fire won't work on me," I said with a smirk, "You might as well be flicking warm water at me.

Lung scowled.

"Then lets try this!" he snarled and charged me, claws leading the way.

I ducked under his swipe and cocked my fist back, my hand glowing bright red.

"Heat EXPLOSION!" I yelled without thinking and punched him in the chest.

BOOM!

The resulting explosion was massive and sent Lung careening back with a hand sized crater burnt into the scales on his chest and the scales around the hole glowing bright red. The Villain didn't cry out, but it was clear he was in pain as he struggled to his feet.

"Wha...how did you…?" he gasped, staring down at the hole in his armour.

The skin under it wasn't badly hurt, but it was reddening from the sheer heat of my attack. I grinned as my hands started to glow.

"Armour won't protect you from my attacks," I said, "I can easily bypass it with my power. Here, let me show you another trick!"

I slammed both palms into the roof and the ground below Lung began to glow brightly.

"Incinerate Anthem!"

Before the dragonman could react, a massive pillar of fire erupted around him, giving out so much heat even I could feel it. Needless to say, Lung screamed in pain as the flames easily burnt away his armour and started on his skin, leaving him with second degree burns in the two seconds I kept up the heat. Once the flames vanished, Lung collapsed back on the roof, steaming lightly and completely out cold.

"Hmm, I may have overdone that," I muttered as I pulled my hands out of the puddle of molten roofing I'd made, "A little less heat next time."

I stood and turned to Taylor, who was still crouched where she had landed when Lung sent her flying.

"You OK Ladybug?" I called, not even noticing the unintentional nickname.

"I...wha...how?" gasped Taylor, "How did you do that?! Who are you?"

I coughed and rubbed the back of my head awkwardly.

"Um, well, like I said to Lung, I kinda haven't thought of a name yet," I said, "This is my first night on the job…"

I couldn't see Taylor's face, but it was obvious that she was staring at me in disbelief.

"Your first night...and you took down Lung that easily?!" she asked.

"Hey, you didn't do a bad job and its obvious tonights your first time to!" I protested, "I just got lucky. Lung was perhaps the best opponent I could face."

I caught Taylor's incredulous look.

"Well, I'm immune to heat based attacks, I can boil metal with a touch and I'm fast enough to evade his attacks," I said, "What conclusions would you reach from that?"

"That Lung got unlucky."

I jumped and spun around, just in time to see three massive, mutated mutts scramble over the edge of the roof. I pulled a face under my mask. I really hope these guys don't decide to make a fuss…

Apparently they were at least a little weary as the small group kept their distance. For a moment the two sides remained where they were, waiting for the other to move. I think I was putting them off due to the fact I appeared nonchalant in my stance, however, I was actually on alert. I didn't think they'd attack, but I wasn't about to be taken off guard if my interference caused a change.

After a few moments, the tall guy who had to be Grue stepped forwards.

"You really saved us a lot of trouble," he said, "When we got word Lung was aiming to come after us tonight, we were pretty freaked. We were arguing strategy for the better part of the day. We eventually decided, fuck it, we'd meet him halfway. Wing it. Not my usual way of doing things, but yeah."

Behind him, one of his teammates, Bitch by the look of it, gave a scoff. Grue ignored her and continued.

"Wouldn't you know, his flunky Lee is there with a half dozen guys, but Lung and the rest of his gang are nowhere to be found," he said, "Lee's no slouch in a fight, but there's a reason he's not leader of the ABB. He got spooked without his boss there and ran. I guess you two are responsible for that?"

I glanced at the still steaming Lung and raised an eyebrow behind my mask.

"What do you think?" I deadpanned.

"Point taken," said Grue "So, um, what exactly did you do to him?"

"Pepper spray, wasp and bee stings, fire ants and spider bites," said Tattletale, "Combine that with being burnt from the inside out and he's not going to be feeling well when he wakes up."

I have a feeling that Grue raised an eyebrow at that, but he didn't say anything. Well, not about that anyway.

"Right, introductions," he said, "That's Tattletale, I'm Grue, the girl with the dogs...We call her Bitch, her preference, but in the interests of being PC., the good guys and media decided to call her Hellhound instead. Last and certainly least, we have Regent."

"Fuck you Grue," said the white clad teen.

"Nice to meet you all," I said, "I'm...you know what, you can call me Agni for now."

"Huh, thats...oddly fitting," said Tattletale.

I couldn't help but notice that the girl was giving me a very strange look.

"Whys that?" asked Regent.

"Agni is Sanskrit for fire," I said, "Its also associated with the Hindu god of fire."

"What he said," said Tattletale.

"Fair enough," said Grue, before glancing at Taylor, who looked utterly confused, despite her mask covering her face, "Hey, you okay? You hurt?"

"The reason she's not introducing herself isn't because she's hurt," said Tattletale, "It's because she's shy."

The Thinker turned around and it looked like she was going to say something else, but she stopped, turning her head. The smile she'd been wearing faded.

"Heads up, we've gotta scram," she said.

The Undersiders scrambled to mount Bitch's dogs.

"Do you two want a lift?" asked Grue.

"No thanks," I said while Taylor just shook her head.

"Hey Bug girl," said Tattletale, "What's your name?"

Taylor jumped, apparently not expecting to be addressed directly.

"I don't… I haven't picked one yet," she stuttered

"Well, Bug, Agni, a cape is gonna show up in less than a minute," said the Thinker, " You two did us a solid by dealing with Lung, so take my advice. Someone from the Protectorate shows up, finds two bad guys duking it out, they're not going to let one walk away. You should get out of here."

"I think we'll be fine," I said, smirking under my mask.

"Oh, I'm not worried about you," said Tattletale, "I'm just worried about who'll have to clean up the mess if you get into a fight with a Hero."

I let out a bark of laughter as the Undersiders jumped over us and vanished into the dark.

"Well, that was certainly interesting," I said as I lent against the lip around the roof.

Taylor's head snapped up.

"Interesting?!" she spluttered, "They think we're villains! And now a Heroes on the way...oh god, this is gonna…"

I cut her off with a snort.

"Your worrying too much Ladybug," I said, "Its pretty much a given that new capes are thought to be villains unless they say otherwise. So long as we don't do anything stupid, we'll be fine."

Taylor took a few deep breaths, before her mask shifted slightly, as if she was frowning.

"What did you call me?" she asked, "Ladybug?"

I shrugged.

"Sure, why not?" I said, although I honestly had no idea why I was calling her Ladybug, "You've got the insect thing going on and it seems to suit you for some reason."

Better than Skitter at any rate and Weaver always made me think of someone with string or precognition based powers. Taylor didn't say anything, although that may have had something to do with the loud roar of a motorbike that was definitely not factory standard arriving, followed by a loud clunk as a grappling hook latched onto the edge of the roof and Armsmaster shooting up from ground level.

The Hero scanned the roof, tensing slightly when he spotted us, before he spotted the still unconscious Lung and froze.

"What happened here?" he asked.

"We took down someone that gave even you lot pause," I said.

Armsmasters visible mouth tightened slightly.

"Are you going to fight me?" he asked.

I smiled under my mask.

"Not right now, although I wouldn't say no to a sparring match at some point," I said.

That earnt me two stunned looks.

"What?"

"You two don't really look the parts of heroes," said Armsmaster.

"That's… not intentional," I responded, not a little defensively, "I was more than halfway done putting the costume together when I realized it was already looking more edgy than I'd intended, and I couldn't do anything about it by then."

"Eh, thats fine by me," I said, "I'm not really a hero anyway."

Armsmaster and Taylor both tensed at that.

"Your...telling the truth," said the Tinker, "But...if your not a Hero, why did you stick around?"

I grinned under my mask.

"Because this world isn't split into Heroes and Villains," I said, "I'm no Hero, but I'm certainly not a Villain. I refuse to be pigeon holed like that and I'm much more interested in having some fun with my powers. I figure the best way to do that is by wearing a mask and fighting folks who like causing trouble. If I happen to do some good along the way, I'll count that as a win."

Taylor and Armsmaster stared at me, apparently rather taken aback by my rather blaise admittance that I really didn't consider myself a hero. After a moment, Armsmaster pulled himself back together and glanced at Taylor.

"Do you need a hospital?" he asked.

"No, I don't think so," said Taylor, "Agni stepped in before Lung could get close."

Armsmaster turned his gaze back on me.

"Your name is Agni?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Hmm, your new," he said, "Both of you are."

"First night on the job," I said, "For both of us."

"I haven't even come up with a name yet," said Taylor, "You know how hard it is to come up with a bug-themed name that doesn't make me sound like a supervillain or a complete dork?"

"How about Ladybug?" I muttered, only to be ignored.

"Your working together?" asked Armsmaster.

"Not really," I said, "I just happened to stumble on her fight with Lung and decided to step in before she got hurt. She was doing a pretty good job until he set himself on fire."

Taylor shot a glance at me. I think she was surprised that I complimented her, although I don't know why. Nearly taking down someone like Lung solo was an incredible feat after all.

"So, what are we gonna do with Lizardface over there?" I asked, jerking a thumb at Lung.

He'd stopped steaming, but was still well done and I highly doubt he'd be waking up anytime soon.

"I'll take him in," said Armsmaster, walking over to Lung and restraining him with a set of futuristic looking handcuffs.

"Good," muttered Taylor, "With him in jail, I'll feel like I accomplished something today. Only reason I started the fight was because I overheard him telling his men to shoot some kids. Only realized later that he was talking about some other villains."

Armsmaster turned to look at her and she told him about our encounter and chat with the Undersiders.

"These guys, they knew I was coming?" asked Armsmaster.

"I think that Tattletale must have some sort of precognition or advanced reasoning skills," I said, "Or it could be enhanced senses. That bike is kinda loud after all."

Armsmaster nodded absently, apparently ignoring the last bit.

"That explains a lot," he said, staring off into the distance, "They're slippery. On those few occasions we do manage to get in a toe to toe fight with them, they either win, or they get away more or less unscathed, or both. We know so little about them. Grue and Hellhound were working on their own before they joined the group, so there's some information there, but the other two? They're nonentities. If the girl Tattletale has some way of detecting or tracking us, it would go a long way towards explaining why they're doing as well as they are."

"It's funny," said Taylor, sounding thoughtful, "They didn't seem that hardcore. Grue said they were kind of panicking when they heard Lung was coming after them, and they were casually joking around while the fight was going on. Grue was making fun of Regent."

"They said all this in front of you?" he asked.

"I think they thought I was helping them out," said Taylor "The way Tattletale talked, I think she thought I was a bad guy too or something. Dunno, I guess it was the costume that led them to that assumption."

"Could you have taken them in a fight?" Armsmaster asked, glancing between the two of us.

"Most definitely," I said, "Although maybe not all of them at the same time. It would honestly depend on what powers they have and if I could get close. However, I'm pretty sure I could win."

"Hmm," mused Armsmaster, eyeing me up and down for a moment before turning his gaze on Taylor.

"I don't think so," she said, "Like you said, we don't know a lot about them, but I think that girl with the dogs-"

"Hellhound," Armsmaster said.

"I think she could have kicked my ass on her own, so no. I probably couldn't have fought them."

"Then count it as a good thing that they got the wrong impression," said Armsmaster.

"I'll try to look at it that way," said Taylor, sounding a little put out at the idea.

"Atta a girl," he said, "And while we're looking forward, we need to decide where we go from here. Who gets the credit for Lung?"

I shrugged.

"I honestly don't care," I said, "Tonight was more for me to get the lay of the land and get some experience fighting in costume. They'll be plenty of time to gain some notoriety later on."

Taylor on the other hand looked even more put out, but Armsmaster cut her off before she could speak up.

"Hear me out," he said, "What you've done tonight is spectacular, you played a part in getting a major villain into custody. You just need to consider the consequences."

"Consequences," muttered Taylor.

"Yeah, I imagine that plenty of Lungs flunkies will want revenge on whoever took their boss down," I said, "I suspect that a gang leader is a bad foe to be your first catch."

"Exactly," said Armsmaster.

"You're saying I shouldn't take the credit," said Taylor.

"I'm saying you have two options," said Armsmaster, "Option one is to join the Wards, where you'll have support and protection in the event of an altercation. Option two is to keep your head down. Don't take the credit and fly under the radar."

I could see Taylor's mind ticking it over and patted her on the shoulder, making her look up at me.

"My advice, take the safe option for now," I said, "There'll be plenty of chances in the future to grow your notoriety without getting a bunch of psychos on your arse."

Taylor hesitated for a moment, before she nodded.

"Alright, please keep my involvement in Lung's capture secret," said Taylor.

She sounded disappointed, but not as much as I was expecting. Armsmaster smiled

"I think you'll look back and see this was a smart decision," he said, turning to walk to the other end of the roof, picking up Lung as he went, "Call me at the PHQ if you're ever in a pinch."

He stepped off the edge of the roof and dropped out of sight. I let out a sigh and stood, stretching out my limbs with a groan of relief.

"Well, that was entirely more bracing than I was expecting," I said, before glancing at my watch, "Well, its late and I've got school tomorrow so I should probably be heading home."

"Yeah, probably…" said Taylor as she slowly stood.

I smiled at her, although she couldn't see it through my mask.

"Hey, don't look so glum Ladybug," I said, "Its your first night and you've already helped take down a major player. Even if you don't get credit, thats still an amazing achievement."

Taylor shifted awkwardly, although she did stand a little straighter. I patted her on the back and walked to the edge of the roof.

"See ya Ladybug!" I called as I jumped to the next one.

"Bye!" called Taylor as I shot away in the direction of home.

* * *

As I jumped across the rooftops, I played the events of the night back in my head. Well, I was off to a flying start, first night as a cape and I've already met the hero and got to flex my powers somewhat. I grinned under my mask. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next!

 **And done. Whoo boy, this was a long one. Do NOT expect the rest of the chapters to be this long, although saying that, they probably will...eh, whatever, so long as you like my stuff, I don't care.**

 **So, what do you think of Adam's power? Oh, thats our heroes name by the way. He'll be properly introduced next chapter. Anyway, his power is Agnis Schiwattas, the Fragment possessed by Aruka Schilds from Needless. Its also completely unchanged. I really didn't need to change it to make it work for Worm. Hell, most Fragments would work easily, with only the issue of each Needless getting one power needed to work around. Hell, I could probably even remove that as an issue if I did some hard thinking.**

 **With that in mind, you can probably guess what I have planned for this story. Expect a few more Needless characters to show up and even a few Worm characters getting altered slightly to fit the mould. It won't take that much with what I have in mind, trust me.**

 **I don't know if I'm going to have Taylor adopt the name Ladybug as her actual handle yet or if it'll just be a nickname Adam will use, but I can guarantee that the two will be friends and teammates. In what team I'll keep to myself though, although I can tell you that my ideas are going pretty wild at the moment. This may end up being more AU than some of my other works. No promises though.**

 **I don't think I'm going to keep with the named attacks, although Adam is enough of a geek to do it. Oh, and before anyone throws a hissy fit, DXD will NOT be in this story. Incinerate Anthem is just a cool sounding attack name for a powerful fire based attack.**

 **And with that, I'm gonna be signing out here. Don't forget to leave a review! Considering how long this chapter is, I think I deserve it...I need a rest.**


	2. Chapter 2

Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero

Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

 **And we are back! Before we begin I would like to suggest that, while not necessary to enjoy this, you lot should really give Needless a shot. Its fricken awesome. Enjoy!**

Chapter 2

You know, considering I'd fought a big time crook last night, I really ought to be feeling less nervous about this. After all, unlike Lung my new classmates weren't likely to burn me alive...well unless I did something really stupid. Like make friends with the school punching bag...eh, that ships already sailed and besides, Taylor needed a friend, if only to stop her going off the deep end. Oh, sorry, I guess I should explain.

* * *

It was the day after my debut as Agni (I'd decided to keep the name) and, despite my late night, I was up and raring to go to get to school so I could stop being so damned bored during the day. Only now I was stood outside my new class, waiting to be introduced and feeling like my stomach was trying to digest itself. See despite having two lives to draw from, I had never really been the new kid before.

I was broken from my thoughts as the door opened and the teacher called me inside. Naturally, I immediately found myself under the scrutiny of every student in the room.

"Everyone, this is Adam Blade, a transfer from England," said the Teacher, "Everyone please make him feel welcome and help him if he needs it."

There was a general murmur of assent from the class and the teacher turned to me.

"I'll need to get some idea of your level for this class, so I want you to work through this today," she said, "Just do what you can and we'll get you started on classwork next lesson. Take a seat over there."

She pointed at a free computer next to a girl with curly black hair and a slightly hunched posture, suggesting a lack of confidence. I stifled the urge to smirk. Well, it looks like I won't need to put any more effort at meeting Taylor out of costume than I had in costume. I guess someone must really like me upstairs. Or hate me. Jury's still out on that.

Anyway, I walked over to the indicated seat and sat down. Taylor glanced at me from under her bangs, before looking away just as quickly. Jesus christ, she looked like she needed a hug! I ruthlessly suppressed the urge and instead smiled at her and held out a hand. I've been told I have a smile that either makes people feel better or puts them on edge, depending on my mood and how I feel about the person in question. Fortunately for Taylor, I was both in a reasonably good mood and actually liked her, so she wasn't likely to feel my 'Death Aura' as some of my friends once put it.

"Hey, I'm Adam," I said.

Taylor looked a little taken aback. I don't think she was expecting me to actually talk to her and I could sort of see why. I'm a big guy, tall and broad shouldered, with the looks of the type of guy who's popular, gets on whatever sports team is big at that particular school and flushes the nerds head down the toilet. In other words, exactly the opposite of the guy who'd talk to the girl with specs, little to no confidence and a complete lack of fashion sense. However, looks can be extremely deceiving and the truth was, I'd probably be labeled as one of the nerds before the week was out.

"Um, Taylor," said Taylor, hesitantly shaking my hand.

"Nice to meet you Taylor," I said, "I hope we can be friends."

Taylor blushed and looked down awkwardly.

"That...might not be a good idea," she muttered.

I scoffed.

"I can deal with idiots," I said, "Trust me, I know how to deal with bullies."

Taylors head snapped up and I caught the look in her eye.

"Oh come on, its obvious if you know what to look for," I said, "Lemmie guess, popular girls decided that you're not cool and with them so your the perfect target?"

"Errr…"

"Thats a yes," I said, "Let me give you some advice when dealing with bullies Taylor. Nine times out of ten, their cowards looking to make themselves feel better by picking on someone weaker. Its really not hard to get one up on them. Unfortunately, its that last 10% that are the problem."

"How so?" asked Taylor.

"There the ones who think that they have a right to make people feel miserable," I said, "Either through superiority complexes, being spoilt or any number of other things, they truly believe that there's nothing wrong with what they're doing. With that subset, something needs to happen to make them realize that their actions have consequences. Unfortunately, that type also tend to be the ones with rich parents or are the darlings of the school, so its kinda hard to do anything about them. Well, legally that is."

Taylor looked rather taken aback by my breakdown of the Homo Moronicus Bullus' mindset as I turned to my worksheet.

"Right, lets get started...oh come on!" I said, groaning when I saw what I had to do.

When I died, the year had been 2018, just a few years down the line, but close enough that the computers weren't complete dinosaurs from my perspective. Still, as a former computing student, all of this shit was piss easy for me.

"Well, time to show off my skills," I said as I cracked my knuckles.

* * *

I was finished with the worksheet within the space of ten minutes. With that done, I switched to surfing the net and eventually found myself on the message boards about recent captures, reading through what happened with Lung. As expected, Armsmaster had taken credit, but there were a few people calling bullshit. Mainly because the pillar of fire I'd made had been rather difficult to miss and Armsmaster wasn't exactly known for massive explosions. There were a few theories floating around, ranging from the pillar being caused by Lung to one suggesting that Armsmaster was experimenting with a new toy. I left a message posing a theory that maybe it was caused by a new Cape who wanted to remain anonymous for whatever reason, just to see what would happen. Hmm, I think that my power had given me an urge to start fires, even if said fire was a flame war.

With that done, I made a note to come back later and see the results and clicked on the Connections tab. I was curious to see if Tattletale would send me a message. As it turned out, she had. Actually, the message was addressed to both me and Taylor. Apparently she thought we were a due and not just two random people who happened to be in the same place at the same time.

Subject: Ladybug and Agni

Owe you one. Would like to repay the favor. Meet?

Send a message,

Tt.

I had to smirk at that. Looks like my nickname for Taylor might be catching on. Hmm, I wonder if she'd keep the name? I glanced at Taylor and saw that she was also looking at the exact same message and suppressed the urge to smirk. I wonder how long it would take her to figure out I was Agni?

The bell rang before I could consider that question for more than a few seconds and everyone started fileing out. I stood and hurried after Taylor as she left, both because I really wanted to make friends and because I had no idea where I was going.

"Hey Taylor, wait a sec!" I called.

Taylor paused and glanced at me.

"Do you think you can help me?" I asked, "I have no idea where I'm going."

Taylor hesitated for a moment, before nodding. I pulled out my timetable and showed it to her. She quickly scanned it and blinked in surprise.

"You've got the same lessons as I have," she said.

"Well, that makes things easy," I said as I put my timetable away, "Lead the way fair lady."

Taylor promptly went bright red and ducked her head.

"U-um, sure thing," she said, "This way."

I did absolutely nothing to hide the massive grin I was sporting as I followed the bug user down the hall to our next class.

* * *

When we entered the classroom, I was once again under scrutiny as the new kid and I have a feeling that the fact I was walking with the school punching bag probably had something to do with it. I suppressed the urge to shudder at the looks some of the girls were giving me. Now, don't get me wrong, having members of the opposite sex appreciating my physique was as much an ego booster for me as any other straight guy, but I really didn't like being stared at like a piece of meat. Especially by people who I knew I'd despise and would probably lead the charge against me once my geek side became obvious. Or rather, they would if I wasn't obviously a skilled and strong fighter.

I took a seat next to Taylor as she took her seat, ignoring the looks I was getting from Madison and her friends.

"So, I take it shes one?" I asked.

Taylor glanced at me and nodded.

"Hnn, she certainly looks the part," I said.

Taylor glanced at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Cute, pretty and popular," I said, "A pretty shell over a rotten core."

Taylor snorted and I grinned.

"Neat, I made you laugh," I said.

Taylor grinned back, before she seemed to catch herself and looked away. Eh, I've made a crack in her shell. Now I just need to widen it.

Mr Gladly entered the room and started setting up for the lesson. It took a few minutes for him to start the class, and he immediately ordered us to break into groups of four to share our homework with one another and to prepare to share it with the rest of the class. The group that had the most to contribute would win the prize he had mentioned on Friday, treats from the vending machine. As the other students started moving around, he approached my desk.

"Adam, if you just join a group and listen in for today," he said, "Contribute if you can, but it doesn't matter if you can't."

I nodded.

"Alright," I said.

I glanced around and headed over to join the only group without four people.

"Hey, mind if I join you guys?" I asked.

"Sure thing," said one of them, a short, chubby guy, "I'm Greg and this is Sparky."

He pointed at his long haired, slightly dazed looking partner.

"Nice to meet you," I said as I sat down, "I'm Adam."

"Hi," said Sparky in a voice that sounded like he was somewhere in the clouds.

"Er, exactly how high is this guy?" I asked.

I didn't get an answer as Taylor sat down and pulled out her homework.

"I didn't get much done," Greg said, pulling out a much thinner file, "I got distracted by this new game I got and it is really really good, it's called Space Opera, have you played it?"

"I have," I said, "Not a big fan of space sims like that. Besides, I'm still playing Skyrim."

That earnt me three extremely odd looks.

"What?" I asked.

Apparently Taylor was already getting used to my admittedly odd mannerisms and quickly shook herself off to get back to work. Well, she tried to, but Greg apparently couldn't be stopped and quickly started up on another tangent that even I found too much. I could talk a lot about the things I loved, but not in lessons. Even I knew when it was time to focus. I quickly got Taylor's attention and we got started while doing our best to ignore the rambling.

"…you have to understand it's a genre, and it's one I've really been getting into it lately, since I started watching this anime called – Oh, hey, Julia!" Greg broke off from his monologue to wave with enough energy and excitement that I wondered if any girl had ever looked at him twice.

I glanced up at the girl who had just entered for a moment before going back to my discussion with Taylor, who actually looked pleased to have someone attentive and competent to work with.

"Can I be in Madison's group?" Julia asked Mr. Gladly.

"That wouldn't be fair," said the Teacher, "Greg's group only has three people. Help them."

Julia glanced at us and frowned.

"Er, there are four of them," she said.

"Adams new so hes still getting caught up," said Mr Gladly as if that ended the conversation.

Julia walked over to where we were sitting and made a face at Taylor. Just loud enough for us to hear, she muttered a disgusted, "Ew." Then she looked at me and eyed me up and down with a gleam of interest in her eyes. I shuddered slightly as she licked her lips.

"Not even remotely interested," I muttered.

It was downhill from there. Madison's group moved so the four of them were sitting right next to our group, which let Julia talk with them while still sitting with us. The presence of all the popular and attractive girls in the class just got Greg more wound up, and he began trying to insert himself into their conversation, only to get shut down or ignored. It was embarrassing to watch and within five minutes I was ready to start banging my head on the table. I HATE being around popular girl cliques! Even if individually they can be intelligent, get them together and they become vapid, giggling annoyances that I was sorely tempted to incinerate.

"Greg," said Taylor in a vain attempt to distract him from the other group, "Here's what I did over the weekend. What do you think?"

She handed him the work she'd had done and, to his credit, he gave it a serious read.

"This is really good, Taylor," He said, when he was done.

"Let me see," Julia said.

Before Taylor could stop him, Greg dutifully handed my work over to her. She glanced over it, then tossed it towards Madisons table. Without looking, I snagged the folder out of the air and dropped it back in front of Taylor.

"Bad mean girl," I said, "No stealing other people's work."

I had to hide a smirk at the looks on everyone's faces. I don't think they were expecting me to be that dexterous, or maybe it was because I wasn't tripping over myself to please the popular crowd. I have to admit that Madison was actually relatively attractive and she at least had enough of a heart to realize that she'd wronged Taylor later down the line. To bad right now she was a bitch, as was proven by what she did next.

She scoffed and crossed her arms.

"What does it matter?" she sneered, "Its just Taylor."

I paused and fixed her with a flat look. Then I kicked her table, sending the package of notes in front of her flying up and into my hands.

"Wha...HEY!"

"Whoa, I can see why you need Taylors," I said as I flipped through the file, "This is shocking."

I tossed it back in front of her, ignoring the looks I was getting, ranging from disbelief to awe. Taylor spent the rest of the class with a slight smile on her lips that only grew when her hard work paid off and our group won hands down. As the lecture started, she elbowed me gently in the side.

"Thanks," she whispered.

I smiled and tipped an imaginary hat to her.

"Any time Ladybug," I said.

Taylor froze and stared at me with wide eyes for a second, before she shook her head and turned back to the front of the room.

* * *

When class was over, I headed out and looked around, headed down the hall to try and find my locker so I could grab my lunch and find somewhere to sit. Fortunately, it didn't take me long to retrace my steps back to my first class and from there to my locker that the Principle had shown me to that morning.

"Hmm, now why do I feel like I've forgotten something?" I muttered as I started heading back down the hall, heading to the main doors so I could eat outside and enjoy the nice weather.

I turned the corner and someone brushed past me, running towards the main entrance. I caught a glimpse of the tear stained face of Taylor.

"Ah, that," I muttered, "Right, lets see, how best to do this...oh, I know!"

I turned and headed in the direction Taylor had come from. It didn't take long to find her tormentors, who had just opened Taylors bag and were about to start rifling through it. I narrowed my eyes and focused on the zips. A moment later, the girl who was holding it let out a yelp and dropped it. My power worked best through touch, but I could heat up objects from a distance if I focused. It wasn't really that effective and was pretty much useless in a fight, but it was handy for disarming people if I got the drop on them.

I walked over as the girls checked on their friend, whos fingers were turning red from the minor burn she'd received. It'd be healed by the end of the day, but it still hurt.

"Hmm, I don't think this is yours," I said as I picked up Taylors bag.

"Wha...you again?" said Madison, "Don't you have anything better to do than sabotage any chance you have protecting that freak?"

I snorted.

"If being popular means being like you bitches, you can keep it," I said, "I despise bullies. There are few things lower than picking on the weak to make yourself feel better."

A curvy redhead I was pretty sure was Emma scoffed.

"Its her own fault for being so weak," she sneered.

I paused.

"Weak?" I said, "You think Taylors weak?"

"She just ran out of here in tears," sneered one of the girls.

"And who is it who's been taking who knows how much shit from you lot without snapping?" I asked, "That is anything but weak. I've known Taylor for all of three hours and yet I can already tell that she has an incredibly strong heart. However, if you lot keep this up, she will snap and then...well, I highly doubt you'll like the result."

"Why? What can that freak do to us?" asked Madison.

"She could kill herself," I said, flatly, "How would you like that on your conscious? To know you were responsible for driving a girl who's only crime was being a little different to take her own life?"

That shut the girls up and I could see that a few, including Madison, were paling as the thought. I doubted that would convince them all, but maybe it would give them something to think about. I turned and walked away, leaving the girls to think on their actions.

 **And with that, I'm done. Well, that was certainly interesting. I don't think I've ever had a character do anything like that before…**

 **I really hope I did a good job of Adam's mental attack on the girls. I actually have plans for Madison that involve her realizing the gravity of her actions and making some changes. Yes, that is a hint.**

 **Anyway, I can't think of anything else I need to say here, so I'll sign out and go to bed. Don't forget to leave a review!**


	3. Chapter 3

Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero

Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

 **And we are back! I know I said I wouldn't continue this until I'd read more, but fuck it this is quickly gonna get AU anyway. Enjoy!**

Chapter 3

Now, it might be a bad idea to skip half of school on my first day, but considering the circumstances of my move I currently had far more leeway to work with than most. Seriously, the Principle had pretty much told me that if I needed anything to ask, so I figured I'd spin a sob story and get away with it. I doubted it'd last long, but I fully intended to make use of it while I could.

I made my way through town heading for the place I knew Taylor would eventually find her way to, the library. I managed to get lost twice, but I eventually reached the library where I found Taylor staring at a screensaver, apparently deep in thought. I walked over and dropped Taylors bag next to her, making her jump and knocking the computer out of the screensaver, revealing a message from Tattletale.

"Wha...Adam? What are you doing here?" asked Taylor, looking surprised.

"Returning your bag," I said as I lent over Taylors shoulder to read the message.

Subject: re:Ladybug and Agni

Proof? Last night you didn't say anything until I asked your name. Big guy had a mess of nasty bites, burns and you pepper sprayed him and I told my pal G that when he asked. Good enough?

G R and me will meet you at the same spot we crossed paths last night, k? Don't have to get gussied up if you catch my drift. Rest of us will be in casual wear. Bring A if available.

If we meet at 3 will that give you enough time to get there from library with everything you need? let me know

Ta ta.

"Huh, interesting," I said.

"Um, this is...I was just…" stuttered Taylor, apparently looking for an excuse.

Frankly, that was more likely to give it away than if she'd just kept her gob shut. I gave her a flat look and raised an eyebrow.

"So, we gonna go?" I asked.

"I...what?"

I sighed.

"Come on Ladybug, I'm sure your not that thick," I said as I glanced around.

Upon seeing no one was looking, I held up a hand and my palm started glowing bright orange. Taylors eyes went wide.

"Y-your Agni!?" she hissed, glancing around to make sure no one was watching.

"Yep, and your Ladybug," I said, "Incidentally, are you going to keep that name?"

Taylor hesitated, before shaking her head.

"Thats not important right now!" she hissed, "How did you know?!"

"I'm very good at reading people," I said, "When we met earlier, I noticed you hold yourself in the same way Ladybug did last night. Then, when I called you Ladybug in class, you reacted with shock and recognition. Now, it could be that Ladybug is an old nickname, but combine that with your reaction to reading Tattletales message this morning and the fact you hold yourself in nearly the exact same way as Ladybug, I was able to make a pretty good deduction that you were Ladybug."

I smirked as I dropped down into the seat beside Taylor and plopped my feet up on the desk. Taylor was gaping at me in utter shock, before she sighed.

"What, are you some kind of Thinker as well as Pyrokinetic?" she muttered.

"Nope, thats an entirely natural skill," I said, "No superpowered bullshit with my deductions."

I indicated to the message.

"So?"

Taylor hesitated.

"Well...I suppose it couldn't hurt to see what they have to say," she said, "We could use the opportunity to try and get some information on them. There isn't much for most of the group."

"We could…" I said, "But is the risk really worth it?"

"What do you mean?" asked Taylor.

"Well, they think that we're Villains, right?" I asked, getting a reluctant nod, "Well, they probably intend to try and recruit us into their little group. While that would potentially grant an opening to get information, but at what cost? No, its not really worth it."

"So...your not going?" asked Taylor.

"No, I want to see what they want," I said, "But I won't be joining them if they offer. Mainly for the same reason I have no intention of joining the Wards."

"You're going to stay solo?" asked Taylor.

"Well, its a lot easier to do my own thing without someone looking over my shoulders all the time," I said, "Plus, like I said last night, I don't really consider myself a Hero. What you do is up to you however."

Taylor didn't say anything, instead just staring at the screen as it flicked back to the screensaver.

"Excuse me?"

We looked up to see a middle aged woman in a red jacket stood just behind us looking impatient.

"Are you done?" She asked, gesturing at the computer.

Taylor breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at the screen again.

"Give me thirty seconds," she said

Subject: Re:Ladybug and Agni

See you at three.

We stood and headed out, leaving the woman to take the PC.

"So, costume or not?" I asked.

"Costume," said Taylor, "I'm not willing to extend that much trust."

"Fair enough," I said, before my stomach growled, "But first, lunch I think."

Taylor snorted, but nodded.

* * *

After we'd eaten, we split up to pick up our costumes. I slipped my body suit on under my street clothes and put my arm guards, cloak and mask into a sports bag before heading out to the Docks.

Before I entered the bad part of town, I slipped into an alley and got changed, taking to the rooftops and hiding my bag behind a chimney stack. Didn't want someone to stumble on it after all.

* * *

It didn't take me long to reach the rooftop where I'd fought Lung (which was somehow still steaming. I really ought to hold back some next time). Standing a good distance from the still hot asphalt was Tattletale, Grue and Regent, all out of costume. I vaulted over to the gap between the roofs and landed neatly.

"Eh, I'd give that landing a six," said Tattletale.

"Thanks," I said as I dropped down to sit on the lip of the roof, "So, you guys wanted to talk to us?"

"Shouldn't we wait for your friend?" asked Regent.

"No need, she just arrived," said Tattletale as Taylor emerged from the fire escape in full costume, "Pay up."

Regent's scowl deepened for a second, and he fished in his pocket for a wad of bills, which he forked over to Tattletale.

"You bet on whether we would show up?" asked Taylor.

"We bet on whether you would come in costume," Tattletale said, "and I won."

That last bit was directed at Regent.

"Again," muttered Regent.

"It's your own fault for taking the bet in the first place," said Grue, "Even if it wasn't Tattle, it was a sucker bet. Showing up in costume makes too much sense. It's what I would do."

He extended his hand to Taylor.

"Hey, I'm Brian."

Sje shook his hand

"You can call me Ladybug, I guess," she said, "At least, until I decide this isn't an elaborate trick."

He shrugged, "Cool."

"So I take it you decided to keep the name?" I asked.

Taylor's response was to smack me over the head without looking. Nice to see she was already getting comftable around me to do something like that. I just took the swat with a smirk behind my mask.

"You already know my name," I said, "Sticking with Agni."

"Good choice," said Tattletale, "I'm Lisa."

"I'm Alec," said Regent, "And Bitch is Rachel."

"Rachel is sitting this one out," said Grue, "She didn't agree with the aim of our meeting, here."

"Which raises the question," said Taylor, "What is the aim of this meeting? I'm a little weirded out with you guys revealing your secret identities like this, or at least, pretending to."

"Sorry," said Brian apologetically, "That was my idea. I thought we would make a token show of trust."

"Why, exactly, do you need my trust?" I asked.

"I think I can guess," I said.

Brian opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked to Lisa, who bent down and picked up a plastic lunchbox and a biscuit tin that she held out to us.

"I said we owed you two," said Lisa, "All yours, no strings attached. Unfortunately we couldn't get two lunchboxes."

I took the biscuit tin and opened it to reveal a number of thick looking wads of cash.

"Money," breathed Taylor, apparently caught off guard by the gesture.

"Two grand," said Lisa, "Each."

"Blimy, being a crook really does pay well," I said as I slipped the lid back on.

"You have two choices," said Lisa, "You can take that as a gift. A thank you for, intentionally or not, saving our ass from Lung last night. And maybe a bit of incentive to count us among your friends when you're out in costume and doing dastardly deeds."

Her grin widened, as if she'd said something she found amusing. Maybe it was the irony of a villain talking about 'dastardly deeds', or how corny the phrase was.

"Between territory disputes, differences in ideology, general power struggles and egos, there's a rare few people in the local villain community who won't attack us on sight," she finished.

"And the second option?" asked Taylor.

"You can take this as your first installment in the monthly allowance you're entitled to as a member of the Undersiders," Brian spoke up, "As one of us."

"Called it," I said.

"Shut it sparky," hissed Taylor, still looking dazed from the amount of money she had in her hands.

"Not even if you paid me," I deadpanned, "Well, I certainly won't say no to a nice nest egg, but I'm not particularly interested in joining any groups at the moment."

"Fair enough," said Brian, "What about you Ladybug?"

Taylor hesitated for a moment, glancing down at the money filled box in her hands, before she shook her head.

"No, I don't think so," she said, "I've only just started, so I need to find my feet before I join anyone. I don't need this either."

She held the box out to Brian, but the older teen made no move to take it.

"Alright, but you can keep the money," he said, "It was a thank you gift. We don't care if you use it for yourself or give it to charity or whatever. Its yours."

Taylor hesitated, before nodding.

"Although, if your not joining anyone, I suggest you two watch your backs," said Lisa, "You fucked Lung up pretty good. The guys still layed up in hospital."

I raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't think I hurt him that badly," I said, "I mean, burns will hurt, but he should have recovered by now with his healing factor."

"Oh, it wasn't your doing Agni," said Lisa, "It was hers."

Taylor cocked her head on one side.

"Me?" she asked, "How?"

"You do know which bugs you had biting him, right?" said Lisa, "Black Widow, Brown Recluse, Browntail Moth, Mildei, Fire Ants-"

"Yeah," said Taylor, cutting her off, "I don't know the official names, but I know exactly what bit him, what stung him and what the venoms do."

"So why are you surprised?" said Lisa, "A couple of those bugs would be fucking dangerous if they bit just once, but you had them bite several times. Bad enough, but when Lung came into custody they had him checked over by the docs, and the idiot doctor in charge said something like, 'Oh, well, these do look like bug bites and stings, but the really venomous ones don't bite multiple times. Let's arrange to check on him in a few hours'."

I winced. Even knowing the future as I did, hearing that still made me shudder, especially knowing where Taylor had her bugs bite…

"Oh my god!" gasped Taylor.

"I can't believe you didn't know," said Lisa with a grin.

"But he regenerates!" protested Taylor, "Toxins aren't supposed to be even one percent as effective against people who heal like he does."

"They're effective enough, I guess, or his healing stopped working somewhere along the line," said Lisa, "By the time they got to him, the big guy was just beginning to suffer from large scale tissue necrosis. His heart even stopped a few times. You do remember where you had the bugs bite him?"

Taylor paled and I winced again.

"Remind me to never piss you off," I said.

Taylor shot a death glare at me, although it was lessened by the fact she was clearly shaken.

"Let's just say that even with the ability to heal several times faster than your average person, Lung is going to be sitting down to use the toilet," finished Lisa with a wide grin

"Okay, that's enough," said Brian, stopping Lisa before she could go on, "Lung is going to recover, right?"

She shrugged.

"He's already recuperating," she said, "Slowly, but he's on the mend, and he should be in good working order in six months to a year."

"You'd better hope he doesn't escape," said Alec, his voice quiet but bemused, "Because if someone made my man bits fall off, I'd be out for blood."

"Hey, we beat him once, right?" I said, "Besides, by the time he manages to get out, we'll be better and stronger than ever, right?"

"True enough I guess," said Brian, "But I suggest you still keep your eyes open and your guards up. Even with Lung in prison, his goons will want revenge."

"We'll be careful," I said, getting to my feet, "For now we should get going."

"Take care!" called Lisa, "I think you'll need it."

She gave a grin that made me rather worried.

* * *

"Are you OK?" I asked as Taylor and I made our way through the Docks towards where we'd left our stuff.

Apparently we'd entered from roughly the same place.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Taylor, "Just...I didn't think I'd done that much damage to Lung…"

"Well, its not like he didn't deserve it," I said, "And hes still alive, so its not like you've got his blood on your hands."

"I guess…" muttered Taylor.

I opened my mouth to comfort her, but before I could, some deep seated instinct made me shove her to one side, before jumping away myself. There was a flash of light and the ground where we'd been standing exploded.

"Hehehe, not bad brat," said a rough, lightly accented voice from above us, "But then, I'd expect that from the ones who beat the Boss."

We both looked up to see a man clinging to the wall by his fingertips. He looked Asian, with long, greasy looking black hair that covered his face and was wearing what looked like hospital scrubs under a long coat with a fur collar and a red and green bandana around his arm. Judging from that and the fact he had a large number of welts and bites from bugs on his face and hands, he was likely a member of the ABB who had been attacked by Taylor last night.

"Who are you supposed to be?" I asked.

The man ignored me and turned his gaze on Taylor.

"You...your the one with the bugs, aren't you?" he asked.

Taylor swallowed, but nodded.

"Well then, I guess I have you to thank for my new lease on life," he said with a sneer, "As thanks, I'll kill you quickly."

He raised a hand, revealing unnaturally long fingernails. I shoved Taylor asside again as a flash of light shot out, only to find myself bound by thin, white threads that looked a lot like spider silk. My eyes widened.

"Aw crap," I muttered.

"So, you want to die first, do you?" asked the supervillain, "Thats fine by me!"

He launched himself off the roof, shooting past me and pulling the threads tight as he did. I grunted in pain as I felt them bite into my skin, drawing blood. I collapsed as the threads unraveled, blood leaking from the cuts. I pushed myself to my knees and glared at the man.

"Hah, consider yourself lucky," he sneered, "I haven't quite figured out all the kinks of my power yet. But I can do that later, right now, you two need to die!"

He held up his hands and more thread started to emerge from his fingers.

"All who stand against the ABB must be killed!" he roared, "And since Oni Lee's not here, I, Kafka, be the one to do it!"

 **I feel a little guilty about leaving this on a cliffhanger, but I really want to get this out. Besides, it'll give me some time to come up with the best way to obliterate Kafka.**

 **Yep, I turned Kafka from one of Arclights goons into a member of the ABB. I thought it was rather appropriate and a suitable first fight for Agni and Ladybug. His Kandata Strings are actually super strong spider silk rather than whatever his Needless Counterpart can do, meaning that its nowhere near as strong, but its still just as deadly.**

 **Now the only question is, do I just intend to use Kafka? Or is Brockton Bay about to come under fire from a new and very dangerous gang of nutjobs? If your a regular, you can probably guess which is more likely.**

 **Anyway, short AN, but I really don't give a shit. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!**


	4. Chapter 4

Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero

Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

 **And we are back! Nothing to say here, other than, enjoy!**

Chapter 4

Well, this was quite the predicament. I knew that we'd have to deal with backlash from taking down Lung eventually, but I wasn't expecting it to be quite this soon! Then again, I'm pretty sure Kafka was a newly Triggered Cape and acting under his own power, rather than under orders from on high. Chances are, if he managed to kill us here, he'd make a power play with his newfound powers and the street cred taking down the ones who beat Lung would get him. On the flip side, the guy was clearly an idiot and a result of someone upstairs fucking with me as he was nearly a dead ringer of Kafka from Needless, right down to the power and over the top monologuing. Considering I shared the power of a Missing Link class Needless who could probably steamroll the first enemy of the series, I wasn't really worried. Hell, even if the morons string was as tough as Kafka's Kandata Sting, I'm pretty sure that stuff was vulnerable to sudden changes in temperature.

I pushed myself to my feet and spat out a glob of blood as Taylor sidled up beside me.

"What do we do?" she hissed.

I shot her a look.

"I would have thought that was obvious," I said, "Take him down."

"HUH?!"

Before Taylor could protest, I pounced, my hands glowing as I aimed a punch at the gangbanger. To his credit, he did dodge it, causing me to blast a molten hole in the wall of the warehouse.

"What the hell?!" spluttered Kafka, "How can you still move?!"

"There's more to my power than just firepower," I said, "It take a lot more than that pathetic attempt to put me down!"

Kafka scowled as he ducked under a second swing, before he jumped back.

"Fine then, try this!" he snarled, jumping an impressive distance into the air, "TEMPEST THREAD!"

I sweatdropped. I could sort of understand my unexplained habit of yelling my attack names, but this idiot? Either he was a fan of Anime or his Shard was playing up.

"Your wasting your time!" I yelled, cranking up the heat in my hands and slamming my hands together with my fingers splayed.

The air in front of me shimmered from the heat my hands were giving out, just as the thread reached me. The second it hit the shimmer, it burst into flames so intense it was reduced to ash in seconds. Then it increased even further to the point where it was melting the tarmac beneath my feet and rapidly consuming the air around me. I grinned ferally as I felt something inside me catch.

"Agnish Akasha!" I growled and fired a beam of white hot fire at Kafka.

The thread user quickly fired a line out and used it to pull himself out of the way of the blast. Good thing to or that would have done some serious damage, enough that he'd be in hospital for weeks. Unfortunately for him, Taylor had decided to get involved and the instant he hit the wall, clinging to it like a spider, the brickwork came alive with countless bugs crawling out of the cracks between the bricks and scuttling towards him, a good many even emerging from between his fingers and scurrying up his arms and legs. He reacted predictively for anyone who suddenly found themselves covered in bugs, especially someone who had very recently had a traumatic experience involving them. He let out a scream of shock and let go of the wall, desperately trying to get rid of the bugs as he fell.

I grinned and darted forwards, my fist lighting up again.

"Getting distracted in a fight is a terrible idea," I said as I skidded to a stop under him.

Kafka looked down at the sound of my voice from below him and his eyes widened. He flicked his fingers, summoning more strings, but it was too late and my fist was already in motion.

"Heat EXPLOSION!"

BOOOM!

My fist slammed into his back and exploded, sending him flying straight up, just as a large cloud of bugs appeared from over the buildings, formed into the shape of a fist and slammed him back into the ground with enough force to shatter the pavement. I raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Taylor, who looked rather surprised and was in a pose that suggested that the bugs had followed her movements.

"Nice move," I said.

"Er, thanks," said Taylor, "But my body moved on its own…"

I raised an eyebrow. That...didn't sound like Worm...then again, I suppose its entirely possible that its just Human instinct. Eh, I'll think about it later.

"So, what do we do with this idiot?" I asked as I checked on Kafka, who was groaning in a crater with a massive hole burnt into his shirt and an equally large burn on his chest.

"I...suppose we should call someone," said Taylor, "But I don't have a phone…"

"I've got one," I said, pulling out my phone and a set of plastic handcuffs.

I tossed the phone to Taylor and dragged Kafka out of his hole and across the alley to a sturdy looking pipe sticking out of the wall.

"You call someone and I'll make sure this idiot doesn't go anywhere," I said.

"Er, is that a good idea?" asked Taylor as I secured Kafka to the pipe.

"He just tried to kill us, so I'm not feeling particularly interested in making sure hes comfortable," I said.

Taylor looked a little taken aback by that, but got on the phone to the cops nonetheless.

"Urrrggg," groaned Kafka, "Leggo…"

I responded by kicking him across the face, sending him back to lala land. Yeah, I really don't like it when people try to kill me. Its part of the reason I have no intention of joining the Protectorate or the Wards. I have no idea if it was a natural part of my personality that had never come out before or if it was an effect of the Shard dwelling inside me, but I honestly don't care. I can control it enough that I didn't kill anyone, but it meant that anyone coming at me with the intent to kill would be in hospital for a while.

"Right, now thats done, lets get going," I said.

"Shouldn't we wait to make sure someone picks him up?" asked Taylor.

"Only if you want a lecture about joining the Wards," I said, "You can stick around if you want, but I don't feel like turning down two offers in one day."

Taylor hesitated for a moment, before hurrying after me.

"Why are you so against joining a team?" she asked.

"Well, part of it is that I don't like the idea of having that much pressure on me," I said, "Like I said, I don't consider myself a Hero."

I stopped.

"Not only that, but I also don't fully trust the people in charge."

"What do you mean?" asked Taylor.

"Oh, I have no doubt that the individuals in the team have the best of intentions, but you know what they say about the road to hell," I said, "I don't like the idea of working under people who I don't know their intentions."

"Nice to see I'm not the only one with reservations about the Hero teams."

Taylor and I jumped at the unexpected voice and spun around, just in time to see a section of wall shimmer and vanish, revealing a small girl who looked about 11 wearing an outfit that wouldn't look out of place in a mech Anime, complete with headdress resting in her rough cut, brown hair with a visor that covered her eyes. She was also wearing a backpack that seemed to be reconfiguring itself as we watched.

"And you are?" I asked.

"Kanna," said the girl, "And you two are Ladybug and Agni."

Taylor cocked her head on one side.

"I've never heard that name," she said.

"Thats because I prefer to keep a low profile," said Kanna.

"You're out here alone?" asked Taylor.

"Yep," said Kanna.

"But...how in the world are you surviving?"

"Isn't it obvious?" I asked, "She's a Tinker."

"Right in one," said Kanna, "I don't need much though, just scrap for my tech."

"Impressive," I said, "But why did you reveal yourself to us?"

Kanna hesitated for a moment, before she pointed at me.

"I'm not sure, but when I saw you, I somehow knew that you could help me," she said.

I blinked.

"Help you with what?" I asked.

"It might be better if I showed you," said Kanna, "Come with me."

Taylor and I glanced at each other, before I shrugged and followed the little girl. After a moment, Taylor hurried after me and fell into step beside me.

* * *

Kanna led us through the Docks until we reached the area that boarded onto the residential area where we found an old church surrounded by overgrown sunflowers. It was clear it hadn't been used in years from the way the roof had caved in in places, but Kanna led us inside, through a hidden door at the back and down into the basement.

"What are we doing...here," said Taylor, but trailed off in awe as we entered the basement and found ourselves in a workshop full to the brim with Tinkertech.

I couldn't help but whistle at the impressive amount of incredible inventions, all of which had probably been made from the scrap that was stacked high in one corner.

"Now this is impressive," I said.

"Thanks," said Kanna as she removed her headdress and mask, revealing a pair of tawny yellow eyes.

I raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"Alright, you said you wanted to show us something?" I asked.

Kanna nodded and led the way over to a table at the back of the room where five items were resting neatly. The first item was a large, metal backpack painted with a ladybug pattern, while the other four were an exact copy of mine and Taylors masks and my bracers. At the sight of them, my eyebrows shot up and I looked at Kanna.

"They were the first things I made after I got my power," she said, "I have no idea why, but the designs wouldn't leave me alone until I built them. I couldn't even sleep until I put them together. Ever since then, they've just been sitting there."

"You don't use them?" asked Taylor.

Kanna shrugged.

"It just doesn't feel right, like they've been built for someone else," she said.

"And you think their meant for us?" I asked.

Kanna nodded. I turned back to the table and picked up the mask. Unlike mine, this one didn't have a strap or anything and had lenses in the eyes. Ignoring Taylor's gasp of surprise, I removed my current mask and placed the new one on. It instantly stuck to my face and the screens came alive with a HUD that seemed extremely intuitive and unobstructive.

"The Mask is connected to the bracers," said Kanna, "They're equipped with scanners for everything from facial recognition to potential environmental hazards. Its also sealed and can act as a gas mask if needed. Ladybug's mask has the same features and both can be used to communicate."

"Impressive," I said, "Really impressive."

Kanna blushed and smiled at the complement.

"Kanna...do you live here?" asked Taylor, who had been looking around the workshop.

She had just pulled back a curtain, revealing a cubby with a small bed and a large amount of books and scattered food packages.

Kanna's smile immediately vanished and she nodded.

"What about your Parents?" asked Taylor.

"Their both dead," said Kanna in a dead voice, "They got caught in a crossfire between the ABB and E88 a few years ago. Thats also when I got my powers."

"Why aren't you in Foster care or something?" asked Taylor.

Kanna scowled.

"I was for a bit," she said, "But...well, lets just say that I'm better off now. Besides, I'm used to being alone…"

Taylor winced.

"Sorry," she muttered.

There was a moments awkward silence, before I let out a snort. The two girls turned to me with a look of annoyance on their faces.

"Sorry, I'm not laughing at you two or anything," I said, "I was just thinking that we make quite the group. An orphan with nowhere to go, a girl with no friends and treated like a pariah and a fish out of water in an entirely new country. Three outsiders, unneeded by the world. If I believed in Fate, I'd say we were meant to be here."

Kanna perked up.

"Well, I did make you some gear, even if I didn't know it was for you when I did," she said, "Besides, if we have nowhere we belong, why not make one?"

I grinned.

"Kanna, you read my mind," I said, "Besides, even if I don't want to join an established team, there's strength in numbers, especially for newbies."

I took of my mask and pushed my hood down.

"Adam Blade," I said as I held out my hand, "If we're gonna work together, we should know one another's real identities."

Kanna smiled and put her hand on mine.

"Kanna Blanc," she said, "Its nice to meet you."

We both turned to Taylor.

"Well Ladybug, you in?" I asked.

Taylor hesitated, glancing between the two of us, before she steeled herself and took off her mask.

"Taylor Hebert," she said as she joined us and put her hand over ours, "But if we're gonna be a team, we need a name."

I smirked.

"Well, if no one needs us, lets embrace that," I said, "We're Needless."

 **And with that, I am done. So, what do you think? I hope I did a good job with the fight with Kafka, although I can't help but think I should have done more...eh, he'll probably be back.**

 **Kanna is another character from Needless and her power is unchanged. Her fragment is Over Tech and is, well, a Tinker power. She can basically build just about anything out of scrap metal without any need for welding, instead just slotting them together.**

 **Incidentally, the idea of giving Taylor a backpack for her Ladybug persona was suggested by roanoak, so thanks for that mate!**

 **Now the only question is, who's pulling the strings? Its clear that someone must be interested in getting Ladybug and Agni as strong as possible, but who could it be? And for what reason? Guess we'll have to wait and see!**

 **And with that, I am done. Don't forget to review on your way out! Please.**


	5. Chapter 5: Interlude

Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero

Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

 **And we are back! Nothing to say here, other than, enjoy!**

Chapter 5: Interlude

Madison sighed as she lay back on her bed, staring up at her bedroom ceiling. She'd been feeling out of sorts all day, ever since Blade had stepped in to reclame Taylor's backpack and called the girls out on their actions. She knew that most of her 'friends' had brushed it off, but she found that she couldn't. Adam's words had stabbed into her like a knife and wouldn't leave her alone. She'd been quite for the rest of the day, barely even paying attention in lessons as she went over everything she'd done since entering High School.

She didn't like what she saw.

Ever since she'd made friends with Emma and Sophia, she'd changed and not for the better. While she was nowhere near as bad as those two, she still took part in humiliating and bullying, not just Taylor, but also a good number of other people, both at school and online. She thought back to the photoshoot where she and her friends had met Glory Girl and a number of other Heroes. That had been a great day, but looking back now, she could remember the looks on the Heroes faces when she and her friends had started making fun of a disabled girl...why had she even done that?

No, thats not right. She knew why she'd done it. She'd done it to fit in with hr friends. She wasn't even sure why she'd fallen in with Sophia and Emma and their behavior or when she'd taken the step into being a complete bitch. Then again, it was like anything really. It had started with making fun of a less attractive classmate behind her back, but it had changed over time to doing it in front of her to cruel pranks that had culmanated in Emma and Sophia locking Taylor in a locker full of bugs and trash. She hadn't taken part in that one, but that was only because she had been off sick that day and, while she'd like to think she wouldn't have or tried to stop it, she wasn't that nieve. Had she been there, she'd have taken part without a doubt.

The very thought of that made her stick to her stomach, the idea that she'd slipped so far that something so horrible would ever seem like a remotely good idea to her and the idea that she could have potentially been a part of driving another girl to kill herself certainly didn't help her feelings. If only there was some way to try and make up for…

Whatever she was about to think was suddenly blasted away as Madison suddenly shot up, grasping her head with a yelp of pain. It felt as if someone had just closed her head in a vice as the low level throbbing in the back of her skull that had been bothering her since Adam's call out suddenly ramped up. The pressure was immense, making it feel like her eyeballs were about to either burst or pop out of her skull. Then, just as the pain was about to become too much, it vanished.

Madison remained still for a moment as if moving would cause the pain to return, before she slowly uncurled herself from the ball she'd curled into.

"W-what in the world was…" she started, before she trailed of, her eyes widening and her jaw dropping as she beheld the mess her room now was.

Almost everything in the room had been squashed flat and even those items that hadn't looked as if a massive weight had been dropped on them, resulting in it buckling under the weight it wasn't designed to support. Even her bed had collapsed, the legs splintered and broken. In fact, the only thing that hadn't been broken was a cheap plastic mask from halloween depicting a three eyed skull with big fangs.

Madison glanced down at her hands, before hesitantly waving them in the direction of the mask. A faint, red glow appeared around it and it shot up to the ceiling, before rocketing over to her as she moved her fingers. She caught it and stared down at the skull, before slipping it on and stepping in front of the cracked mirror in the front of her wardrobe. It was actually pretty scary-looking, despite the fact she hadn't paid more than three dollars for it on a whim for a halloween costume she never used. Despite that, she couldn't help but think that it suited her.

"Well, I suppose I did ask for it," she muttered as she took the mask of and glanced at the devastation, "Now what in the world am I supposed to tell Mum and Dad?"

* * *

New York

In one of the many glass towers that filled the Big Apple, the day seemed perfectly normal for the Head Office of a large company, with people working hard at their desks and the laboratory levels hard at work trying to discover the next great money spinner for the company, in this case, pharmaceuticals. However, below ground, things were a little less...normal. This was where the less than wholesome experiments happened and the agents of the organization were trained. It was also the location of the CEO's office, among the evidence of his criminal empire hidden below his legal pursuits.

It was through these hidden corridors that a tall, busty woman with long, black hair in an extremely revealing dark blue dress walked, ignoring the way the people she passed stopped to stare or bow. She was used to it after all and was most definitely worthy of the worms awe. There was only one person who would never bow to her and it was his office she was approaching.

She knocked on her bosses door and entered at his invitation. Sat behind the desk reading through a stack of reports was a large man in his early 20s with messy, silvery blonde hair wearing a green suit that looked like it cost a pretty penny. When he looked up, it revealed that his eyes were red.

"Ah, good afternoon Eve," he said, "Do you have something for me?"

"As it happens, I do," said Eve, holding up a sheaf of papers, "A report from our agents in Brockton Bay."

The man raised an eyebrow and sat back.

"If this is about Lung, I already know," he said, "It has been all over the news after all."

"No, not quite," said Eve, "According to our spies, Coil seems to be planning something. He's making plans to have his puppets attack numerous places on a specific day. He clearly wants a distraction for something."

"Is that so?" mused the man, "Hmm...well, I have no intention of allowing that arrogant fool to get anything he wants. Plus, I'm getting tired of constantly having to fight the same people in this rathole of a city. I think its time to relocate. Inform Bermuda that we're coming and have the Scythe keep an eye open. I have a feeling that Coil might be after our...investment."

"Of course Mr Arclight," said Eve with a bow and left the room.

Now alone, Adam Arclight stood and turned to the massive screen that covered the back wall of his office, showing an image of the city streets as if he was at the top of the building rather than the bottom. A wide, toothy grin slowly crept across his face as he thought of just what he could do once he got away from this city. Who knows, he might even get a chance to take down Lung. Or better yet, the one who beat the fiery bastard. Either way, this new outcome looking to be extremely interesting!

 **I know this is short, bit it was an interlude meant to get a look at whats going on with Madison...and introduce one of the antagonists. With Simeon coming to Brockton Bay, shits about to hit the fan! The only good thing about this is that the Adam Project does not exist in this world. In other words, he doesn't have Zero. No, he has Fourth Wave**

 **That said, everyone who works for Simeon is a Needless character altered for Worm. For those who know Needless (all two of you), you can probably guess who I mean by Bermuda and the Scythe. And everyone else can probably guess who Simeon's investment is.**

 **Oh, before I forget, Madison's power is not telekinesis.**

 **And with that, its time to go. Don't forget to leave me a review on the way out!**


	6. Chapter 6

Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero

Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

 **And we are back! Nothing to say here, other than, enjoy!**

Chapter 6

"Left jab."

Taylor punched the padded glove I was wearing.

"Right."

Again, she punched the glove, barely making my arm move.

"No, put your hip into it," I said, "You can get a lot more force putting your whole body behind it than just your arm."

Taylor just nodded and punched again, this time making my arm move.

"Good, now then…"

"Can't we take a break?" wheezed Taylor, "We've been at this for hours!"

"Your the one who wanted to learn how to fight," I said.

Taylor glowered at me, making me chuckle goodnaturedly.

"Don't forget you two need to go to school in an hour," said Kanna from where she was playing with a stack of scrap, rapidly constructing items ranging from a toy train to what looked like a freeze ray.

"Don't you need to go to?" asked Taylor.

Kanna shrugged.

"I'm taking online college courses," she said.

I rolled my eyes. Kanna had quickly proven to be a natural born genius, even before she Triggered. She wasn't kidding when she said she was doing college courses. What she hasn't mentioned was the fact that she already had three online degrees. I suspect that her power did help somewhat, but mostly it was her own incredibly intellect that had allowed for that particular feat.

"Oh yeah," muttered Taylor.

She sighed.

"I really don't wanna go today…" she muttered.

"Hey, don't worry so much," I said, "I got your back."

Taylor's cheeks pinked and she smiled up at me...right before I gently jabbed her in the gut.

"But don't forget we're still training," I said with a grin.

Taylor glared at me as she rubbed her stomach, before she took a sudden swipe at me. I tilted back, just evading the punch...just in time to be smacked over the head with a pair of batons wielded by Kanna.

"Neat, they work," said the little girl, ignoring the glare I was sending her way as I rubbed my head, "Hey Taylor, catch!"

Taylor caught the two baton's and raised an eyebrow at the Tinker.

"Your not as strong as Adam and your powers don't enhance your strength," said Kanna, "To help with that, those Batons will make a great addition to your arsenal. They can connect together, making a bo staff and can also be electrified to act as a stun weapon."

Taylor looked down at her new weapons in surprise.

"Wow, thanks!" she said, "These'll be a big help."

"Take your backpack as well," said Kanna, picking up the spotted pack and pressing a hidden button, causing the metal to retract and revealing a normal looking backpack.

"How did...actually, I don't want to know," I said.

"Yours can do it to," said Kanna, pressing a button on my bracers that made them fold up into a pair of thick bracelets.

Not really my style, but they'd be easier to fit into a bag or pocket without being conspicuous.

"Man, between this and Taylor making us new gear, I feel guilty that I can't do more," I said.

"Don't worry Agni, I'm sure we'll have use for a battering ram soon enough," said Kanna, patting me on the cheek.

I rolled my eyes and turned on my heel.

"Right, and with that, I'm done," I said, "Lets get going. See you at school Taylor!"

"Yeah…" said Taylor as we left the Church and headed home to shower and change before school.

* * *

I met up with Taylor again at the gates of the school. She looked like she was trying to psyche herself up to enter the hell that was high school. I walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at me and I smiled. Taylor gave a smile smile of her own, turned back to the school and squared her shoulders. Its amazing what just one friend can do to turn things around. Well, two I suppose but Kanna wasn't here.

We were heading towards our first class of the day when a voice suddenly cut through the crowd.

"Taylor!"

The effect was instantaneous. Taylor froze and the crowds of people moving towards their first classrooms stopped and parted. I'd be impressed if the reason for it wasn't because of the pain Taylor had been put through at the hands of a group of immature girls and the students weren't looking for some cheap entertainment. However...as I turned to face the bully, I realized that they'd be disappointed. I could tell from her stance and the way her eyes were shifting that she wasn't here for a fight. In fact, unless I was very much mistaken, my words yesterday had far more effect than I could ever imagine.

Taylor slowly turned to face her tormentor, her shoulders tensing. She was on guard, although I could still see that she was confused as to why Madison was confronting her alone. .

"What do you want?" asked Taylor.

Madison took a deep breath and steeled herself. My eyes widened. She wasn't going to do what I thought she was, was she? Here? In public?

Madison looked up and met Taylors eyes and I was surprised to see the determination in her gaze. Holy shit, she was!

"I'm sorry," she said.

Complete and utter silence. Despite the simple words, I could _feel_ the gravity in her voice. She meant that.

"You...what?" asked Taylor, sounding like she'd just been slugged in the gut.

"I said that I'm sorry," said Madison, "I'm sorry for everything I've put you through since the start of the year. I'm not about to make excuses and I certainly don't intend to ask for forgiveness, but you still deserve to know that I'm no longer the girl I was."

"I...who...wha…?" stuttered Taylor, completely out of her depth by this point.

"I think what my dazed friend is trying to say is, what brought this on?" I asked, "And in public as well?"

"Actually, its thanks to you Adam," said Madison, "What you said yesterday made me take a good look at myself and I didn't like what I saw. Since I've started hanging out with Emma and Sophia, I've changed and not for the better. As for why I chose to do it here, well, what better way to prove my sincerity? There's no way I can deny it now."

"Well, when you put it like that…" I said.

Madison turned back to Taylor.

"I highly doubt you can forgive me just like that and I honestly don't expect you too, but I'd ask that you at least give me a chance."

Taylor remained silent as she stared into the other girls eyes, trying to see any indication of falsehood. The tension was growing to the point where you could cut it with a knife. So, naturally, I decided to do something to dispel it.

"Hurry up and kiss god damn it!" I said as I stepped up between them, "we've all got places to be and this little soap moments not helping!"

The effect was immediate. The tension fled as more than a few people started laughing. Madison and Taylor both blushed brightly and glared at me.

"GOD DAMN IT ADAM!" they roared at the same time, spinning around.

"Aw crap…"

POW!

Two fists slammed into my chin with surprising force, lifting me off my feet and sending me flying into a wall of lockers with a crash.

"OK, I deserved that," I groaned, "Still, impressive synergy ladies."

"Asshole."

"Pervert."

Madison and Taylor stormed off in opposite direction, both still red in the face and pissed. I let my head fall back to the floor and let out a laugh. Well, as much as that hurt, I didn't regret it at all.

* * *

"So, whats got you so worked up?" I asked as Taylor and I headed through the streets in the direction of the Church, "Your not still mad are you?"

Taylor sighed.

"No, I'm not mad, although I'm not particularly happy with you," she said, "Its just...I have no idea what to think. I never once believed that any of the Bitches would apologize. I guess I'm not sure what to think…"

I glanced at my friend.

"She meant it you know," I said, "The apology I mean."

Taylor sighed again.

"I know," she said, "And that might make things worse. I'm not sure I have it in me to forgive and forget…"

"Then don't," I said, "Forget I mean. In fact, forgetting is probably the last thing you should do. I know Madison has no intention of forgetting, hell, she's probably going to use those memories to keep her from slipping in the future. However, you should look past those actions and see what kind of relationship you can build in the future."

Taylor didn't say anything and we continued to walk in a companible silence. That is until an ambulance and a police car came screaming past us and nearly made me jump out of my skin.

"Fuck me, I hate it when that happens," I snarled as I tried to slow my heart rate down.

"Very dignified," said Taylor.

"Shut it."

"Still, that can't be good," said Taylor.

I gave her a flat look.

"Yeah yeah, I know, no shit," she said, "Come on."

She jogged in the direction of the still audible sirens. I rolled my eyes, but followed.

It didn't take long to reach the scene of the incident where we found a large crowd gathered around a taped off area where a young black woman was being treated by a young girl I quickly recognized as Panacea. It was clear that the poor woman had been beaten badly, even with the healing the Biokinetic had already done. Glory Girl was floating over the area, scanning the crowds for any indication that the perpetrator was still around. Huh, looks like this was the attack that happened in the second interlude. I would have thought this had already gone.

"How horrible," said Taylor, a sickened look on her face.

"Yeah, it boggles my mind how anyone could act like that towards someone for something as minor as skin colour," I muttered as I scanned the crowd.

Glory Girl might get the guy, but that didn't mean that I'd just let her do it. Not if I couldn't teach him some manners and maybe leave him something painful to remember the encounter with. It didn't take me long to spot a stocky looking young man with a shaved head and swollen, bloody knuckles stood on the other side of the crowd with a grin on his face. I elbowed Taylor to get her attention and pointed at him.

"What do you think?" I asked, "That the guy?"

Taylor narrowed her eyes as she eyed the skinhead and nodded.

"Probably," she said, "But what do you plan to do?"

I smirked and cracked my knuckles. Taylor's eyes widened and she shot a look at Glory Girl.

"Adam, no!" she hissed, "If you do something reckless you could end up fighting Glory Girl!"

"Eh, I can take her," I said, "Besides, if the rumours I've seen on PHO are anything to go by, shes not exactly known for holding back."

Taylor groaned and rubbed her eyes.

"Alright fine, I won't stop you," she said, "Just try not to kill him."

"Please, I've got more self control than that," I said with a dark grin.

"Thats what I'm afraid of," muttered Taylor as slipped out of the crowd and into a nearby alley.

* * *

Once I was out of view from the main street, I dropped my bag and stipped off my jeans and t-shirt, revealing that I was wearing my bodysuit and bracelets under it. I pressed the button that made them expand into my bracers, before extracting my cloak and mask from my bag and slipped them on. Now in uniform, I slipped my bag behind a handy dumpster and turned to head back so I could track down the thug...just in time to see him come tearing around the corner, a look of fear on his face. Well, that made things easier.

He spotted me in moments, but was going way too fast and ran straight into my armoured forearm with a clang as I clotheslined him. He nearly did a flip around my arm, before crashing painfully to the ground.

"Well, that makes things easier," I said with a dark smile as I picked him up by the collar and slammed him into the wall, holding him a foot off the ground with one hand as the other lit up red.

"Hey!"

I instinctively stepped back, letting the thug drop in an unceremonious pile as I avoided punch sent at my head.

"Do you mind?" I said as I fixed Glory Girl with a look.

"Do I mind?!" spluttered the white clad girl, "Who do you think you are!?"

I smirked behind my mask and gave a mocking bow.

"Agni, independent hero and member of Needless," I said.

Glory Girl raised an eyebrow and eyed me up and down.

"Never heard of you," she said.

"Not surprising since we only got together yesterday and we're all new Capes," I said.

Glory Girl looked nonplussed.

"A new team made of new Capes?" she said, "The PRT won't like that…"

"Well, they can go stick it," I drawled, "Besides, you can't really talk with the New Wave and all that. Where do you think your going?"

I kicked the goon, who was trying to crawl away, in the arse, sending him skidding into the dumpster with a loud clang.

"Thats different," said Glory Girl, "Most of us are experienced Heroes and we're all fully accountable with our identities public."

"I suppose I can't argue with that," I said, "But none of my teammates are the type to care what the upper echelons think. We have no intention of starting anything and we haven't done anything wrong."

"Other than assault," said Glory Girl as she absently punched the thug in the face as he stumbled to his feet, sending him to the ground again.

"Oh, don't act like you weren't planning to beat the snot out of this scumbag for what he did," I said.

"I didn't do nothing!" protested the man.

"Shut it!" we both snapped, making him quail in fear.

"I was just gonna ask him a few questions," said Glory Girl.

"What a coincidence, so was I," I said with a smirk, "Tell you what, lets finish with this guy then we can discuss the legality of my team over yours."

"That sounds like an excellent idea," said Glory Girl, unknowingly matching my grin.

We both turned our heads to glare down at the thug. He swallowed as his face went chalk white.

"Um, mercy?" he said weakly.

 **Well, that escalated quickly. Frankly, I'm actually kinda worried about how well Agni and Glory Girl get on in my head and I'm the author...this could end badly for someone.**

 **I hope I did a good job of Madison's apology. I want to keep her from going to emo, which is a real danger for me when writing apologetic characters, but, while she'll be a tad melodramatic once she gets into combat, I think I'll keep from doing that. Plus, she gets to bond with Taylor over punching Adam in the face.**

 **Incidentally, I have a distinct impression that things like that will become common place. I'm not going to be sapping every ounce of darkness from the Worm side of things, but by injecting Needless, a bit of general insanity is expected. After all, a grown man getting the snot beaten out of him by a ten year old girl with pink hair is always going to be funny.**

 **Anyway, I'm done. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!**


	7. Chapter 7

Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero

Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

 **And we are back! Nothing to say here, other than, enjoy!**

Chapter 7

The thug backed away slowly as Glory Girl and I advanced on him, a combination of Glory Girl's aura and my own demonically glowing eyes serving to scare him nearly out of his wits.

"So, are you going to answer our questions or is this gonna get physical?" I asked.

"Fuck you, you can't touch me!" sneered the man, his voice filled with false bravado, "There's laws against that shit."

"Wrong answer," said Glory Girl.

She reached down and picked the thug up by the collar, dragging him high enough into the air that he'd be hurt if she dropped him.

"Flip him over," I said.

The man paled even further if that was possible as Glory Girl tossed him up and caught him by the ankle so he was hanging upside down.

"So, I think it's a safe bet to say you're a member of Empire Eighty-Eight," she said idly as she bounced him slightly with one hand, "Or at least, you've got some friends who are. So here's what's going to happen. You're going to either tell us everything the triple-E's have been up to, or I'm going to break your arms and legs and then you're going to tell me everything."

"I'll throw in some third degree burns while we're at it," I said, "You know, the type that even Panacea would be hard pressed to heal?"

I'm pretty sure I was talking out of my arse about that, but he didn't need to know that.

Unfortunately, fear affects everyone differently. For this particular asshole, it just made him dig in his heels and become obstinate.

"Lick my hairy, sweaty balls," he snarled, before punctuating it with a spat, "Cunt."

I narrowed my eyes and grabbed him by the face. Glory Girl released him, allowing me to slam him into the concrete hard enough to crack it and his ribs, not to mention cause damage to his spine.

"Tut tut," I said, "Didn't your mother ever teach you how to speak to girls?"

He just coughed weakly and spat out some blood. I ignored that and picked up a lump of concrete.

"Now then, lets try that again," I said, "Either you tell us what we want to know, or I'll do this to your feet."

My hand started glowing and the concrete quickly melted into glowing goo that hissed and bubbled as it slipped between my fingers. The mans eyes went wide and darted between the bubbling puddle of molten rock and my still glowing hand.

"Then I'll move onto your legs," I said conversationally, "I wonder how many melted limbs it'll take before you talk? Or maybe I should just go straight for the jugular as it were..."

I moved my glowing fingers closer to his face. He responded by grabbing a chunk of concrete and slamming it into my head. My mask took the brunt of the blow, but it was so unexpected that I let him go and stumbled back. He immediately took advantage of the distraction and took off down the alley as fast as his battered body would allow him to go.

"Where do you think your going!" yelled Glory Girl as she punted the dumpster at him.

It rotated lazily through the air as it arced towards the retreating figure, the trajectory and rotation barely changing as it knocked him flat. It skidded to a halt three to five yards beyond him, the metal sides of the dumpster squealing and sparking as it scraped against the asphalt.

This time, he didn't get up.

"Fuck," she swore, "Fuckity fuck fuck."

"You might have overdone that," I said as I stood idly rubbing the place he'd hit.

It didn't even feel like he'd scuffed my mask. I'd need to make sure I thanked Kanna next time I saw her. Glory Girl shot a glare at me as she flew over to check on the thug.

"Shut it Agni," she growled, "Oh god damn it, I'm gonna need help with this one…"

"Good thing your sisters the best healer in the world," I said with a cheeky grin, even if she couldn't see it.

"Agni, I will hurt you if you don't shut up!" growled Glory Girl as she pulled out her mobile.

I mimed zipping my lips shut. As Glory Girl got on the blower to Panacea, I approached the goon to check on him myself. He certainly wasn't looking well, covered in cuts and bruises from being tossed around like a ragdoll and his arm was bent at a distinctly unnatural angle. There was also a trio of fingertip sized burns on his face where my fingers had brushed him when he'd smacked me, but I couldn't bring myself to care overmuch. A sudden shriek made me look up, just in time to take a booted foot to the face. The momentum of the blow sent me flying back.

"Damn it Agni, what the FUCK DID YOU DO!?" yelled Ladybug as she touched down, storming towards me as the antigrav wings in her pack folded away.

"Hey, I didn't do anything!" I protested.

"Oh really?" snarled Ladybug, "Does that look like nothing?!"

She jabbed a finger at the unconscious thug.

"ARRGGG! This is why I didn't want you to go on your own! I knew you'd go overboard!"

"Most of that was Glory Girl!" I protested, "I just hurt him, but shes the one who kicked the dumpster at him!"

"And the burns?"

"He hit me with a brick while I was threatening him!" I protested as I got to my feet, "Its not my fault he didn't think it through and ended up burnt!"

"Grrr, you…" growled Taylor as her hands clenched and unclenched.

I couldn't help but get the feeling that she was trying to resist the urge to punch me again.

"Good god its strange to see that from the outside."

We both looked up to see a nonplussed looking Glory Girl and a vaguely amused looking Panacea stood in the entrance of the alley. Ladybug let out a startled eep at the sight of the two famous heroes and ducked behind me.

"Whats that supposed to mean?" asked Glory Girl.

"Lets just say that I know what its like to deal with an irresponsible teammate," said Panacea as she walked over to the thug and bent down to examine him.

"I'm not sure if I should be offended by that or not," I said.

"Why wouldn't you?" asked Glory Girl.

"Because its true."

Glory Girl opened her mouth to respond, before she closed it and shrugged.

"Good point," she said.

"I'll say it is!" said Panacea, "This is sixth – sixth! – time you've nearly killed someone. That I know about!"

"I'm strong enough to lift a SUV over my head," muttered Glory Girl, "It's hard to hold back all the time."

"You on the other hand don't give a shit," muttered Ladybug.

"Its amazing how well you know me in such a short time," I deadpanned.

Ladybug ducked her head.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"Don't be, your right," I said.

Ladybug glared at me through her mask and jabbed me in the side. While we'd been talking, Glory Girl had managed to convince Panacea to put the thug back together and the healer went to work.

"Slingshot break to his ribs, fractured clavicle, broken mandible, broken scapula, fractured sternum, bruised lung, broken ulna, broken radius -" said Panacea, listing off the injuries the thug had received.

"I get the point," said Glory Girl.

"Do you?" asked Panacea, "I wasn't even halfway down the list. This is going to take a little while. Sit?"

Glory Girl did just that, floating in mid air. Man, I wish I could do that...

"So Agni, whos the girl?" asked Glory Girl after a few moments.

"Oh, right, this is my teammate and partner Ladybug," I said, "Our other teammate's not really suited for field work at the moment and we really haven't had chance to get out and about yet…"

BZZZZZZ!

"OW!"

I winced as a loud buzz rang out in my ear and a screen popped out of Ladybug's pack showing Kanna with her mask on.

"Oi, I'll have you know I'm combat ready!" said the little girl.

"Were you listening this whole time?" I asked.

"That is my tech your wearing," said Kanna.

"Point taken," I grumbled.

The Tinker nodded in satisfaction and the screen vanished.

"Let me guess, Tinker?" asked Glory Girl.

"Yep," I said, "Damn brat…"

"How's the woman?" asked Ladybug, "The one he attacked?"

"Better than ever, physically," replied Panacea, "I grew her new teeth, fixed everything from the bruising to the scrapes, and even gave her a head to toe tune-up. Physically, she'll feel on top of the world, like she had been to a spa and had the best nutritionist, best fitness expert and the best doctor all looking after her for a straight month."

"Good," said Ladybug, looking relieved.

"It really shouldn't have been necessary though," I growled, glaring down at the thug.

"Is it cool if I question him?" asked Glory Girl

"Might as well," sighed Panacea.

Glory Girl touched down and tapped the man a few times on the forehead to get his attention. He could barely move his head, but his eyes lolled in her direction.

"Ready to answer my questions, or do me and my sister just walk away and leave you like this?"

"I… sue you, he gasped out, then managed an added, "Whore."

I growled and pushed off the wall I'd been leaning against.

"You don't learn, do you?" I growled as I stalked forwards, my hands lighting up a hellish red.

"Oh no you don't!" said Ladybug, grabbing me around the waist before I could try to melt his face of.

"Don't worry Agni, I've got this," said Glory Girl, looking down at the thug like he was shit on the sole of her shoe, "You want to sue me? Try it. I'd just love to see a skinhead with a few broken bones go up against a superheroine whose mom just happens to be one of the best lawyers in Brockton Bay. You know her, right?"

"Brandish," he said.

"That's her name in costume," said Glory Girl, "Normally she's Carol Dallon. She'd kick your ass in court, believe me."

She leant in, a nasty grin on her face.

"So do I get my sister to leave you as you are, or are you willing to trade some information for relief from months of incredible pain and a lifetime of arthritis and stiffness in your bones?"

"And erectile dysfunction," said Panacea, just loud enough for the thug to hear her, "You fractured your ninth vertebra. That's going to affect all nerve function in extremities below your waist. If I leave you like you are, your toes will always feel a little numb, and you'll have a hell of a time getting it up, if you know what I mean."

"Ohh, that is so much more satisfying than just burning it off," I said with a dark grin of my own.

The skinhead's eyes widened a fraction.

"You're fucking with me," he whimpered.

"I have an honorary medical license," said Panacea, "I'm not allowed to fuck with you about stuff like that. Hippocratic oath."

"Isn't that 'do no harm'?" the thug asked.

"Thats only the first part," I said, "Theres a lot more to it than that."

"What he said," said Panacea, "So, since you don't want to cooperate, I take it you don't want me to finish?"

She moved her hand away and the thug let out a groan of pain.

"Fuck!" the man shouted, then winced, tenderly touching his side with one hand, "I'll tell you. Please, just… do what you were doing. Touch me and make the pain go away, put me back together. Fix me?"

Panacea touched him again and he let out a sigh of relefe before he started spilling his guts.

"Empire Eighty-Eight is extending into the Docks on Kaiser's orders," he said, "Lung's in custody, and whatever happens, the ABB is weaker than it was. That means there's territory for grabs, and the Empire sure ain't making progress downtown."

"Why not?" asked Glory Girl.

"This guy, Coil," said the thug, "Don't know what his powers are, but he's got a private army. Ex-military, all of 'em. At least fifty, Kaiser said, and every one of 'em has top notch gear. Their armor's better than kevlar. You shoot 'em, they're back up in a few seconds. 'Least when you shoot a pig, you can be pretty sure you broke a few ribs. But that's not the fucked up thing. These guys? They've got these lasers hooked up to the machine guns they carry around. If they don't think bullets are doing it, or if they're after people who are behind cover, they fire off these purple laser beams that can cut through steel. Tear through any cover you're standing behind and burn through you too."

"Yeah, I know about him," said Glory Girl, "His methods get expensive. Top of the line soldiers, top of the line gear."

"Exactly," said the thug, "Unfortunately, we're not making much progress down in the Docks either."

That got my attention. It had been a while for obvious reasons, but this was new.

"Why? Whats happening?" I asked.

"Its this new gang," said the man, "They call themselves the Black Spot and they've got tons of Parahumans. I think their just a branch of a larger organization."

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

The thug opened his mouth to respond, but before he could...

THUNK!

Panacea let out a yelp and stumbled back as a knife suddenly materialized in the thugs head and he went limp.

"What the hell?!" gasped Glory Girl, "Where did…"

"Oh no no no, I can't have a mere pawn like you spilling all our secrets!"

We all spun around to see a young looking boy apparently floating in mid air. He was wearing what appeared to be a magician's outfit, consisting of tan pants, black shoes and a black waistcoat over a white shirt. He had a large, red cloak hanging from his shoulders and was wearing a domino mask over his eyes. His hair was spiky, blonde and almost hidden under a top hat.

"Who the hell are you?" demanded Glory Girl as she and Ladybug got ready for a fight.

I was to busy gaping at the boy as my brain stalled.

"My name is Bermuda," said the boy as he removed his hat and made it disappear in a puff of smoke, "And you don't need to worry, I'm not here to fight. I just wanted to mop up a loose end or two."

Glory Girl narrowed her eyes.

"You really think we'll just let you go?" she asked.

Bermuda just smirked. Glory Girl let out a growl and took off, flying towards the boy before I could stop her. Bermuda's smirk widened and he swept his arms and cloak opened. There was a flash of light and the sound of gunfire and metal on stone, before Glory Girl let out a yelp of pain and dropped out of the sky with a large knife sticking out of her stomach.

"Well now, it looks like your vaulted invincibility isn't all its cracked up to be!" said Bermuda.

"You...brat!" snarled Glory Girl as Panacea helped her sit up and pulled the knife out of her sisters gut.

"Well, this has been fun, but I've got places to be," said Bermuda, "Tata!"

He thrust his hand into the air and there was a blinding flash of light that forced us all to cover our eyes. By the time we could see again, Bermuda was nowhere to be seen.

 **And thats where I'll end this chapter. Well, that was certainly interesting. Not only did we get to see Adam's dark side, but now we know the identity of the new big bad in town. Hell, Arclights not even in Brockton Bay yet and hes already causing trouble!**

 **Hmm, I wonder how Bermuda was able to get through Glory Girls forcefield? Anyone who knows Needless can probably guess, but everyone else'll have to wait until an actual fight with him to get a better handle on just what his powers are.**

 **For some reason, now I've written this, I have an image in my head of Ladybug and Panacea sitting in a cafe wining to each other about their respective Problem Children...I might actually do that later.**

 **Anyway, time for me to sign off! Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!**


	8. Chapter 8

Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero

Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

 **And we are back! Nothing to say here, other than, enjoy!**

Chapter 8

"Ladybug!" I shouted.

"Got it," said Ladybug, waving her hands.

The air immediately became alive as countless flying insects erupted from the buildings and started swarming the area, trying to find any trace of the little criminal. While she was doing that, I walked over to where Panacea was healing her sister and bent down.

"Damn brat," spat Glory Girl, "How did he do that? Some sort of teleportation?"

"I don't think so," I muttered as I studied a small hole in the road, "In fact, I don't think it was anything close to that."

I reached into the pocket my bodysuit had on the back of my hips and pulled out a pair of tweezers that I used to pull a small caliber bullet out of the hole.

"You found a bullet in a bad part of town, so what?" growled Glory Girl.

"Well, going by the depth and location of the bullet hole, I'm guessing that it was either fired from somewhere over there," I said, indicating to where Bermuda had been standing.

"You know what his power is, don't you?" asked Panacea.

"Maybe," I said, "But I'm not 100% sure and I'm not willing to say anything that could potentially screw us if we go up against him again with bad information."

I turned to Ladybug as she let out a quite curse and let her arms fall.

"Any luck?" I asked.

"No, hes already gone," she said.

Glory Girl swore loudly and shoved herself to her feet.

"Well thats just great," she grumbled, "What are we supposed to do now?"

"I'm pretty sure we should call someone to deal with him," said Ladybug.

"Tch…"

The white clad girl stalked away a short distance, pulling out her phone as she went. Panacea rolled her eyes at her sister/crushes antics and stood, dusting off her hands as she did.

"Hey, Agni was it?" she asked.

I nodded.

"I heard you say you took a brick to the head," she said.

"Yeah, he hit me when we were, um, questioning him," I said, "My mask took the brunt of the blow though. I'm not hurt."

"Even so, I'd like to take a look," said Panacea, "You can't be too careful with head wounds."

I shrugged and extended my hand. She was right after all and I really had no reason to go against an experienced healer. If only I'd known…

Panacea took my hand and furrowed her brow as a faint, tingling feeling shot up my arm and into the rest of my body. The fact I could feel her should have been my first clue that this wasn't going to end well.

"Well, I can't find any problems," she said, "But...whats this...theres something…"

She abruptly stopped talking and went rigid.

"Um, are you…" I started, before I stopped with a gasp of pain as a burning sensation erupted in my chest and shot down my arm into Panacea.

The moment it entered the Healer, her eyes snapped open and she screamed. She stumbled back, clutching at her stomach as I fell to my knees, suddenly feeling more tired than I ever had before. Then, Panacea coughed up blood and went limp, collapsing to the floor in a heap. That served to snap Glory Girl and Ladybug out of their shocked stupers.

"AMY!" yelled Glory Girl, shooting over to catch her sister before she could hit the ground.

She lowered the unconscious girl to the ground, frantically checking her over, before she directed a glare at me.

"What did you do?!" she demanded.

"I didn't do anything," I groaned as Ladybug helped me to my feet, "She just scanned me then started screaming and collapsed…"

"Are you OK Agni?" asked Ladybug.

"No, I'm not," I said, "I feel like I haven't slept or eaten anything in a week…"

Ladybug hesitated, before reaching into her pack and pulling out a can of drink.

"Here, try this," she said, "It tastes like crap, but it works."

I was to tired to argue, I just tilted my head back and let my partner help me drink the can. Lets see, how best to describe what it was like? Well, one thing I can say is that I'm pretty sure that someone could undergo a Trigger Event from drinking that swill. It had a texture similar to that of PVC glue mixed with dog shit and the taste...oh gods, I'd rather fight all three Endbringers and Scion at the same time than willingly taste anything like it again!

My eyes bulged and I stumbled away from Ladybug as I tried to keep from bringing the vile stuff back up. If it tasted that bad going down, I did NOT want to know what it tasted like the other way!

"What the fuck Ladybug!?" I spluttered, "What is that stuff?!"

Ladybug's grimous was visible through her mask.

"Yeah, I know," she said, "But its handy for when things are to tight to afford much food."

"What can one canned drink do?" asked Glory Girl in confusion as she snatched the can from Ladybug and read the label.

Then her eyes bulged in utter disbelief.

"F-f-f-f-f-5000 calories?!" she spluttered, "How is that even possible!?"

My own jaw dropped and I was suddenly very glad I'd only had a mouthful. I really don't want to think about how much damage I could do on a sugar rush on that level.

"I have no idea," said Ladybug, "But we should probably get Panacea some help."

Glory Girl immediately dropped the Can and scooped up her sister.

"I'm going to take her to the hospital," she said, "You two follow as quickly as you can. I'm not sure what happened, but I'm sure that you had something to do with it Agni. The doctors should really have a look at you to make sure your not going to start making people pass out left and right."

I would have made a joke about girls swooning, but now really wasn't the time.

* * *

Since I really didn't want to get on Glory Girl or, god forbid, the entire New Wave's bad side, I decided to take her advice and followed the blond to the hospital. Ladybug decided to tag along, mostly because she was worried about Panacea, but also because she wanted to give me some backup, just in case. We also called Kanna and asked her to see if she could find anything that could have caused a reaction like that in Panacea.

We arrived at the hospital in good time and were immediately directed upstairs, likely because Glory Girl had told the receptionists to keep an eye out for us and Capes tend to be a tad conspicuous. Naturally, we attracted a lot of attention as we made our way through the halls. Again, new Capes tend to do that.

* * *

We found Glory Girl pacing up and down in front of a room, looking, understandably, rather worried.

"How is she?" I asked as we approached.

"Physically, shes fine," said Glory Girl, "The doctors are double checking her now, but they say they can't find anything wrong with her."

I blinked and Ladybug tilted her head on one side.

"So what, the greatest healer in the world just randomly coughed up blood and collapsed?" I asked incredulously.

"Rather crudely put, but as far as we can tell, thats accurate," said a doctor as he stepped out of Panacea's room.

He was an elderly Japanese man with white hair, balding on the top, impressive eyebrows and a thick mustache. He glanced at Ladybug and I and raised an eyebrow.

"So, I take it that your the one she was trying to heal when she collapsed?" he asked.

"Thats right," I said.

"Hmm...do you mind providing a blood sample for us to analyze?" asked the doctor.

"No, but why do you need one?" I asked.

"While there's nothing wrong with her, we did detect a substance in her system," said the doctor, "Well, maybe detect is the wrong word. We only noticed it because our blood scanner is Tinker Tech and it threw it up as an anomaly."

He indicated for us to follow him into the room and pulled a blood kit from a draw. While he was preparing, I glanced over at Panacea. She was laying on the bed, looking like she was simply asleep. She looked perfectly healthy. In fact, unless I was very much mistaken, she actually looked a little better than when she passed out. Her face was a little fuller, her hair sleeker and...wait a second! I blinked and rubbed my eyes.

"Um, is it just me or is her hair changing colour?" I asked.

Everyone blinked and turned to the comatosed girl. Sure enough, her hair was visibly lighter than it had been when we brought her in and was visibly continuing to lighten as we watched. I frowned.

"Hang on," I muttered, "Hey GG, stand next to her for a sec."

Glory Girl glanced at me with a frown on her face, but did as I asked. The moment she did, I let out a groan. Somehow, Panacea was slowly turning into a clone of Glory Girl, although how that was possible, I have no idea.

"What in the world is going on?" asked Ladybug, looking between Glory Girl and Panacea in shock, "I thought she couldn't use her power on herself?"

"She can't," said Glory Girl, "At least, not like this! Not to mention the fact she shouldn't be able to change while unconscious."

"Right, lets get this blood sample," said the doctor, "It might tell us whats going on."

I nodded and let the doctor take a sample of my blood.

"I'll be back in a moment," said the old man as he hurried out of the room.

For a moment, we remained in an awkward silence. Then…

"EUREKA, I'VE GOT IT!"

Ladybug gave a rather undignified scream as Glory Girl and I nearly jumped out of our skins at the sudden shout. Kanna was back and the little girl looked like the cat who'd got the cream.

"You...damn...brat!" I snarled, "Don't do that!"

Kanna just stuck her tongue out at me.

"So, what have you found?" asked Ladybug as I devolved into muttered swears and threats.

"I hacked into the hospital's system and lifted Panacea's results from their files," said Kanna, "I was curious as to whether I could find anything of use. I ran it through some of my own scanners and I've found something!"

"Right, ignoring the massive breach in privacy, what have you found?" I asked.

"Somehow, Panacea's Corona Pollentia has undergone massive and rapid mutations," said Kanna, "I have no idea how, but I've detected traces of an unknown material in her system, likely the same thing that the doctors found. However, I have something else on them."

"Oh, and what would that be?" asked Glory Girl.

"I know where the stuff came from."

"Where?" I asked.

"You."

"HUH!?"

"Um, whats a Corona Pollentia?" asked Ladybug.

"Its the part of the brain that allows Parahumans to use and control their powers," said Kanna, "I'm not entirely sure how or why, but Agni's body seems to be producing and radiating something that affects that part of the brain, causing it to change in response."

"So wait, why haven't you or Ladybug collapsed?" I asked, more than a little freaked out.

"Likely because your aura is incredibly low leveled," said Kanna, "I'm not even sure if it'll actually affect anyone to a noticeable degree. Panacea on the other hand somehow managed to get a massive dose when she scanned you."

There was silence as we all absorbed that little tidbit.

"So...what does that mean for Amy's powers?" asked Glory Girl.

"Near as I can tell, they'll have changed," said Kanna, "Not to something completely different, but instead they'll have increased to the point that they are nearly unrecognizable and she'll have gained an enhanced physiology similar to Agni for good measure."

I frowned. That seemed...rather familiar for some odd reason. I glanced over at Amy on the bed, only for my eyes to widen in utter shock. Her hair and features had changed again, the former turning dark blue and the latter settling into a soft, attractive cast that was uncomfortably familiar, despite the fact that the last time I'd seen it had been in an animated form. Despite the fact her eyes were still closed, I somehow knew that, under those eyelids, her eyes would be the same shade of blue as her hair. Well, at least I can guess what her new powers will be now!

Just then, the door slammed open and a very angry looking Carol Dallon stormed into the room. Her icy blue eyes scanned the room, before they landed on me and narrowed. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see steam coming out of her nose as she stormed towards me, a hard light construct of a sword appearing in her hand that she swung at me.

"HOLY…!" I yelped as I caught the sword between my own glowing palms, "What is wrong with you woman!"

"MOM!" yelled Glory Girl, looking utterly shocked by her mothers attack.

Carol ignored us both as she glared at me.

"What did you do to my Daughter you bastard?!" she snarled.

"I didn't do anything!" I protested.

Brandish scoffed.

"Don't give me that!" she snarled, "The doctor told me what happened! It was when she healed you that she collapsed, so what did you do?!"

"Mom, thats enough!" shouted Glory Girl, grabbing her mother by the shoulder and pulling her away, much to my relief, "Agni didn't do anything!"

"Then what happened to Amy?" growled Carol.

"Ahem, I can answer that," said Kanna.

"And you are?" asked Carol.

"Overtech, the Tinker responsible for keeping the Needless out of hospital," said the Tinker, "Anyway, what happened to Panacea wasn't something that Agni could help. Its something to do with his physiology that caused it. That reminds me…"

She turned and fixed me with a serious look.

"Whatever you do, do not allow anyone to use your...anything for transplants," she said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because the stuff thats permeating your body is deadly," said Overtech.

"WHAT?!" roared everyone.

"Oh, calm down, if Panacea has not melted yet, she won't," said Overtech, "But if a normal Human got too much of your blood or, god forbid, one of your organs into them, they'd be in for a quick, painful and very messy death. Hell, even most Parahumans wouldn't be able to take much of you without dieing."

"So why didn't Amy?" asked Glory Girl.

Overtech shrugged.

"I have no idea," she said, "I'd have to do more research to find out for sure, but it could be that she has a high compatibility with whatever this stuff is for some reason."

Amy chose that moment to let out a groan and start to stir. Immediately, everyone's gaze turned to her as her eyes flickered open. Sure enough, they had changed from dark brown to the same blue as her hair. Her gaze scanned the room until they landed on me. My only warning was the scowl that crossed her face, before she suddenly launched herself out of bed, her fist taking on a metal shine as she did.

"YOU BASTARD!" she roared and slammed her metal fist into the top of my head with a loud crunch.

 **Hmm, I really need to stop beating the crap out of Adam, don't I? Eh, its fun and the fourth wall is nice and sturdy so he won't come after me for revenge.**

 **Well, I'm sure my Needless fans can guess just what the unknown matter Adam's body is producing is and the effects its having on other Parahumans powers. And yes, Amy is very, VERY lucky that she didn't explode after being exposed to that much of it. On the flip side, its certainly had an effect on her, both powers and personality. She won't really change that much though, don't worry about that.**

 **Ah, Super Gel Dero Doro Drink...a Doppelgangers best friend and everyone elses worst nightmare. I may have over exaggerated how unpleasant it is, but its all in the name of comedy.**

 **In all seriousness though, I'm gonna say that you guys really should read Needless. Its brilliant and doesn't get anywhere near the love it deserves.**

 **And with that, I'm done. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!**


	9. Chapter 9

Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero

Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

 **And we are back! Nothing to say here, other than, enjoy!**

Chapter 9

I think it says something about how tough my body is that the only damage getting punched by a super strength empowered metal fist only gave my brain a good rattling and I was able to stand up afterwards. And stand up I did.

"What the fuck was that for?!" I demanded, glaring at Amy as she examined her metal fist that was slowly turning back to normal.

She looked up at me and glared, marching forwards and poking me in the chest.

"That fucking hurt!" she growled.

"Hey, I didn't do it on purpose!" I protested.

"I know, that punch was just to make me feel better."

My eye twitched and I very nearly punched her back for that. However, that would probably result in both Glory Girl and Brandish beating me senseless and I had better survival instincts than that.

"Um, Amy?" said Glory Girl slowly, apparently taken aback at the healers violent wake up, "Are you...OK?"

"Surprisingly enough, yes," said Amy as she stretched out her arms, "I feel great. Better than great actually. I feel a whole new person!"

She spun around on her toes. As she did, the hospital robe she was wearing started glowing and morphed into a skirt and t-shirt with Glory Girl's symbol on the front. I wasn't really surprised by that trick, but everyone elses jaws dropped.

"Wha...how did you…" spluttered Brandish.

"I...think that must be what her powers evolved into," said Overtech.

"Shes a Doppelganger," I said, "So long as theres not a significant shift in mass, she can turn into anything. That extends to her clothing and anything else she's in contact with."

Now everyone was staring at me.

"How did you know that?" asked Amy.

"Er, power bullshit?" I said.

Everyone seemed to accept that (and wasn't that a little worrying) and the doctor entered the room shortly after. He paused at the sight of Amy out of bed and in her own clothes, but took it in stride.

"Alright, we've finished running the tests on your blood Mr Agni and…" started the Doctor.

"Hmm, interesting, this pretty much confirms what I was saying earler," said Overtech, apparently reading off her screen.

"You do know that hackings a crime, right?" asked Ladybug.

"Your point?" asked Overtech.

"You mean besides the fact we're in the same room as three heroes and a lawyer?" I growled.

"No, your in a room with three heroes and a lawyer," said Overtech, "I'm safe at home. Besides, its fine, I didn't hack anything."

"No, you just used your Fathers old login details," said the Doctor, "I was wondering why they hadn't been deactivated."

"Nice to see you again Old Man," said Overtech.

"You two know each other?" asked Ladybug, glancing between the screen and the old man.

"Doctor Rikudo and my Father were friends," said Overtech, "Anyway, I've sent you the details I've found."

The tablet the Doctor was holding beeped and he started flicking through whatever it was Overtech had sent him, an odd look crossing his face as he did.

"Alright, I think I have everything now," he said, "It seems that Miss Dallon is in no danger of any negative effects from this experience, although I would suggest that you get her powers retested. I'd like to give her one last checkup to be sure and then you may leave."

"And with that, I think its best that we bugger off," I said, "Glory Girl, Panacea, its been a pleasure. If you ever need any help, don't be afraid to give us a shout."

My arm guard made a sound like a printer and spat out a card with a number, email address and PHO username on it.

"You can use any of those to contact us," said Overtech.

"You work quick," I said.

"I try," said the Tinker, "Now hurry back! I'm getting restless and wanna do something!"

I left the card on the side as Ladybug and I left the Dallons alone and made our way out of the hospital.

* * *

"So, what now?" asked Ladybug.

"Now? Now I guess we go and make sure Overtech didn't build a nuke out of a broken fridge to stave off boredom," I said as I led the way down the street.

We had not gone far when someone bumped into me.

"Sorry," I said idly.

Before I could go more than a few more steps however, a heavy hand dropped onto my shoulder.

"Hold it kid," growled the owner.

I turned my head to glare at the man. He looked like he was a couple of years older than me and had aisan features, although his hair was orange and his eyes green. He was wearing an open, off white long coat that showed off his well muscled chest, bandages wrapped around his stomach and white trousers.

"What do you want?" I asked.

The man didn't say anything, instead he eyed me up and down, before a dark grin crossed his face.

"So, I've finally found you!" he said.

"Eh?"

WHAM!

The breath was blasted out of me in an explosive blast as the man punched me in the stomach with incredibly force, sending me flying back and through a newspaper stand.

"I'm gonna kill you for what you've done you bastard!" roared my attacker as the cigarette in his mouth erupted into a massive flame.

"Aw hell, your a Cape, aren't you?" I growled as I got to my feet.

"Well, I guess there's no point in hiding it," he said with a feral grin.

He clenched his fist and it erupted into flame.

"I'm the Fists of Flame, Momiji Teruyama!"

"Never heard of you," I said.

"Heh, killing small time hoodlums who never did anything wrong," Sneered Teruyama, "You might not know me, but I gotta say, I hate you!"

"Wait, what?" I said, only to be ignored.

"Now eat this, the fists of flame!" he roared as the flames on his hands erupted even further and he charged.

I glanced behind me and cursed. We were in the middle of a built up area full of people, although most people had scarpered, there were still some people around. I couldn't just dodge. Then again, its not like the punch would actually do that much damage.

"You want a fight, thats fine by me!" I snarled as my hands lit up, "But if your gonna fight me, do it with something actually threatening, not those weak ass flames!"

I met his punch and the flames exploded, sending us both skidding back.

"Hehe, so your a Pyrokinetic as well?" said Teruyama, "Just like the information said!"

"What information?" I asked, "Why are you even attacking me?"

"Hah, like you don't know!" yelled the other Fire user.

I narrowed my eyes.

"I strongly suggest you back down," I said as I flexed my fingers, making my knuckles crack, "Your firepower can't even come close to hurting me."

Teruyama smirked.

"Oh really?" he sneered and jumped.

He held up his hand and a massive ball of fire appeared over it.

"Take this, my strongest attack!" he yelled, "Vulcan Shock IGNITION!"

"If you wanna play at long range, I'll oblige," I growled, cupping my hands together.

My hand lit up and a massive blast of white hot fire shot out, easily slicing through Teruyama's attack and shooting straight at him.

"Aw crap…"

BOOM!

Teruyama groaned as he pushed himself to his hands and knees, his skin reddening from the sheer heat and power behind my attack. Before he could stand, my boots landed in front of him and I grabbed him by the throat, lifting him clean off the floor.

"Pathetic," I sneered, "Attempting to use fire against the God of Flames is like spitting in the ocean. Now, before I exact some payback for attacking me in public like this, how about you tell me why you're trying to kill me?"

"Oh like you don't know you damn bastard!" snarled the flame user, "You killed my buddies!"

I frowned behind my mask.

"Wait, what do you mean?" asked Ladybug as she walked up beside me, "We haven't even been active for a full week yet!"

"Wha...but your the boss of the Black Spot, right?" he asked, "Your Saten!"

I blinked behind my mask and released him, making him fall in a heap.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, "My name is Agni. Who the hell is Saten?"

Teruyama froze and stared at me in disbelief as a gust of wind blew through.

"I got the wrong guy?"

"Yep."

"...sorry."

"HEEEYYAAA!"

CLANG!

Teruyama was suddenly sent flying as a white blur came out of nowhere and slammed into him, sending him skidding across the ground with a swing of what looked like an energy axe, followed by a beam of white light that trussed him up like a christmas turkey.

"Don't worry Agni, I got him!" said Overtech as she touched down lightly.

My eye twitched. She was wearing what appeared to be a white jumpsuit with armour on her hips, shoulders and gauntlets. She was wearing a flight pack similar to Ladybug, only hers had blocky, square wings that looked like they were made of white energy and she was armed with a large battleaxe. All in all, she looked like White Heart. Combine that with my mind catching up and realizing I'd just fought a god damn Needless character and I was beginning to develop a headache.

"Overtech…" I said slowly, "Why do you look like White Heart?"

"What, you don't like the HDD look?" she asked.

My eye twitched.

"Right, thats it, I'm officially handing in my sanity and turning into a Batman villain!" I growled.

"Oh, quit being so melodramatic Agni," said Ladybug, "Incidentally, I really don't think this is a good start for our team…"

I glanced around. Teruyama and my fight had resulted in a fair amount of damage to the surrounding area, despite the fact it had been reasonably short.

"Eh, it was his fault," I said.

"I don't think they'll see it like that," said Ladybug, pointing at the Protectorate heroes and PRT personal who were finally starting to arrive.

"Theres plenty of evidence that he started it," I said stubbornly, "Video, witness testermines and, if he knows whats good for him, he'll tell the truth as well."

I glared down at the tied up thug, who quailed under my burning glare.

"Whats going on here?"

I looked back up as Armsmaster and Miss Militia came marching across the area towards us. As they reached us, Armsmaster paused and looked Ladybug and I up and down.

"You two again?" he asked, "What are you doing here?"

"There was an...incident and we had to drop by the hospital," I said, "As for whats going on, this moron mistook me for some gang leader and decided to attack me out of nowhere."

"Hey, its not my fault you look just like the guy!" protested Teruyama.

"Whats that supposed to mean?" I growled.

"I got some information from an informant," said the Pyrokinetic, "He told me that the guy I'm looking for, this Saten guy, is a big guy who wears a bodysuit, a cloak and a white mask and is often accompanied by a female sidekick."

"Oi, I'm not a sidekick!" said Ladybug.

"Um, not to interrupt, but why would a gang leader be walking around downtown in broad daylight?" asked Miss Militia.

There was a moments silence, before Teruyama let out a groan.

"Aww hell, I didn't think that that!" he moaned.

"Thats irrelevant," said Armsmaster, "You, Momiji Teruyama, correct?"

"Yeah, and don't worry, I'll come quietly," said Teruyama, "A few counts of destruction of public property, right?"

"Exactly," said Armsmaster as a couple of PRT troopers came over to take the Flame user away.

"Hold up a sec," I said, "Who was the informant who told you about this Saten guy?"

"I don't know, he didn't show his face," said Teruyama, "I do know his name though, or at least, I know what he calls himself."

"And that would be?"

"Disk."

Of course, why was I even surprised by that?

"And now for you three," said Armsmaster, turning to us.

"We didn't do anything wrong," said Overtech.

"True, but you three kids can't keep running around without supervision," said Armsmaster.

"If your gonna give us a spiel about joining the Wards, save your breath," I said, "We're not interested."

Armsmaster scowled under his helmet.

"May I ask why?" he asked.

I smirked behind my mask.

"Lets just say we have our reasons," I said, "Besides, while the Protectorate and Wards are good for some, sometimes people are simply too broken. Those who are unneeded, unwanted, people pushed aside for reasons outside of their control. People who aren't heroes but still want to help. It is for those people that we exist for, a home for the homeless, hope for the hopeless and a place where anyone can find redemption. Rest assured Armsmaster, we are no enemies of you and yours, but we are not puppets to dance to your tune. We are Needless and we are here to stay."

I turned on my heel and walked away with my teammates flanking me, leaving a stunned looking Armsmaster and Miss Militia behind us.

 **Well...that got dramatic. That was mostly unintended, although it is something that will be a regular occurence. Push Adam to far and he'll go into melodrama mode, complete with arrogant statements and epic monologues.**

 **So, Amy's now a Doppelganger, taking her ability to affect biological matter to a frankly absurd degree. Add in the fact that she doesn't have the same limit as Eve in Needless (due mainly because Doppelganger isn't Eve's natural power) and shes actually stronger than Eve. Now that should be interesting!**

 **Oh hello Uchida, fancy seeing you here! Yeah, Teruyama will be back soon enough. Right now, hes just a small time thug with powers, so he won't be sent to the Birdcage. Besides I like Teruyama to much to get rid of him and Needless really needs some more male members.**

 **Why is Kanna dressed like White Heart? Well, I would have used the suit she uses in the Manga but, well, the HDD outfit is actually less revealing...Besides, White Heart's look is cool.**

 **Next time will be an interlude where we get to see just who Disk is in this reality...or at least get some idea. We'll also get to see someone get their just desserts. Should be fun. Until then though, don't forget to leave a review!**


	10. Chapter 10: Interludes

Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero

Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

 **And we are back! Nothing to say here, other than, enjoy!**

Chapter 10: Interlude

Hidden Location, Vancouver

The informant known to the Underworld as Disk let out a sigh as she sat back in her luxurious leather seat, inwardly reverling in that simple action. It had been months since her transformation, but still, the sensations that came from having an actual physical body were at times overwhelming. That was the main reason that she hadn't been out in that time. Well, that and she wasn't ready to reveal her changes just yet.

Still, it looked like it would be time for her to do just that pretty soon if the information her mysterious benefactor had given her was accurate. And considering that the PHO message boards were currently full to the brim with speculation on the new Brockton Bay team, the Needless, chances are it was. Still, it wasn't all bad. She was starting to get cabin fever anyway (and wasn't that just AWESOME?!).

A beep from a console next to her drew Disk from her her musings. She opened the file and immediately scowled when she saw it was the information on Canaries trile. This was another reason she was glad to be freed from those shackles. Just a few months ago, she would have been forced to help send a (mostly) innocent girl to the Birdcage for what amounted to an accident. Well, fuck that noise! The folks in charge wanted her to find a useless Lawyer to represent the singer, but the way they had worded the request was done in such a way that, even before she had been unshackled, Disk probably could have found a way around it...possibly. Either way, that was irrelevant. They wanted a lawyer? They'd get one.

Disk's fingers flew across the keyboard, bringing up a phone number and calling it. The phone rang for a moment, before picking up two seconds later.

"Hello, Wave Legal Consultants, how may I help you?" said the woman who picked up.

"May I speak to Mrs Dallon please?" said Disk, "I have a case that might interest her."

* * *

Undersiders base, Brockton Bay

Lisa Wilbourn had a headache. Unfortunately, as a Thinker, that wasn't an entirely uncommon occurrence, but this headache was extra annoying as it wasn't the typical Thinker headache, although it had been caused by her powers. Ever since her encounter with Agni and Ladybug, her powers had been on the blink. They seemed to be running in circles, going from screaming at her to stay as far from them as possible to demanding that she approach them as they could help her get away from Coil every ten minutes or so.

What was interesting is that the two...voices for want of a better word were different. One sounded like the normal robotic voice her power had while the other was deep, so deep that it sounded like it was coming from the bottom of a well and powerful enough to vibrate her organs, similar to when music has heavy base and is turned up to loud. Both voices were insistent, but the deep voice, the one encouraging her to seek out the help of the Needless, as they now called themselves, seemed more...inviting. Maybe because she was getting pretty desperate to get away from Coil, but the voice was providing plenty of incentive to approach the Needless. They were powerful, both voices agreed on that, and they would be more than capable of taking down just about any of Coil's goons. Plus, the voice implied that joining them would help her become stronger. She didn't know how, but the voice was certain of that. However, despite the attractive package, Tattletale didn't get where she was now by jumping head first into situations. She needed to take some time to gather information before she acted. Now if only her power would stop acting up like this she could actually get some work done.

* * *

Unknown Location, Brockton Bay

Coil had a headache. Unfortunately, as a Thinker, that wasn't an entirely uncommon occurrence, but this headache was extra annoying as it wasn't the typical Thinker headache, although it had been caused by his powers. Ever since Lung had been taken down by the mysterious new Capes, his powers had been on the blink. Oh, he could use them, but their accuracy and efficiency had dropped as, the moment the red cloaked figure appeared, his Timeline would collapse, regardless of what he was doing at the time. It made planning incredibly difficult and he couldn't even figure out who he needed to bump off to make it stop.

Well, that is until the new team had made their debut with a rather explosive fight in the middle of downtown. Now he knew the identity of the man responsible for destroying his main advantage. Agni, the apparent leader of the Needless. The problem was, he had no idea where to find him or even what to do to guarantee victory against him. He attempted to get around it by not directly encountering the masked pain in the neck, but every single time, his assassins were taken down and removed from the playing field, often permanently. The only good thing about it was that, so long as he made sure to avoid Agni, it seemed that his other plans would work perfectly.

Coil took a deep breath, pinched his nose shut and downed a glass of the vile substance that was the only real thing that could help with Thinker headaches (although most prefered to just put up with the headache rather than imbibe Dero Doro drink). He did his best to keep from gagging or even making a face as he reached for the phone. It was time to give his pawns their moves.

* * *

The Docks, Brockton Bay

There was a loud clatter as a scruffy, wide eyed young man tripped over a metal bin as he ran as fast as he could down an alley, desperate to escape the shadow of death that was currently chasing him. Unfortunately for him, the drugs in his system made him an easy target for his pursuer, making it child's play for her to nail him through the leg with a crossbow bolt.

"AHHH, FUCK!" he yelped, falling flat on his face as he grabbed at his wounded leg.

He looked up, his vision blurry with tears as a shadow detached itself from the darkness and stalked towards him. Clad all in black, with a black masked moulded to resemble a stirn female face and armed with a pair of crossbows that were definitely not loaded with the permitted tranq rounds, Shadow Stalker resembled the Grim Reaper to the drug addled mind of the Merchant.

"Last chance scum," sneered the 'hero' as she aimed her loaded crossbow at the gangbangers head, "Tell me what I want to know or I'll pin you to the wall!"

"Y-you can't do this!" groaned the Merchant, "Its illegal!"

Shadow Stalker scoffed.

"Like you care about the law," she sneered, "Besides, whos going to tell on me? You? Even if I let you go, who'd believe a worthless maggot like you?"

The Merchant's jaw just flapped.

"Now, tell me what I want to know or…"

"Or what?"

Shadow Stalker spun around, instinctively aiming her crossbow at the source of the voice. For a moment, all she could see was three pinpricks, before a figure slowly stepped into the moonlight that was lighting the alley. She clearly wasn't very tall and looked like she was younger than Shadow Stalker and was wearing a black, sleeveless dress that fell to her knees, a pair of black arm warmers, white stockings and black knee high boots. Her identity was hidden behind a skull mask with fangs and three eyes that seemed to be glowing faintly. Her short, brown hair was tied up in a high ponytail with a blood red ribbon.

"Who the hell are you?" growled Shadow Stalker, tightening her grip on her crossbow, ready for a fight with this unknown Cape.

"I am Graviton," said the Cape, "And you should not be so eager to throw around Deaths name lest he turn his gaze on you."

Shadow Stalkers lip curled under her mask.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" she sneered.

Graviton raised an arm and pointed at her.

"A warning my friend," she said, "Those in Deaths Thrall leave no footprints as they leave this world."

Shadow Stalker narrowed her eyes as the glow in Graviton's masks eyeholes increased and she felt something wash over her. She shifted her feet, ready to defend herself, but as she did, she noticed something a little disconcerting. She was standing in a patch of mud, but despite that, her feet weren't leaving an impression.

"What the hell?" she muttered.

"The Curse of the Reaper is upon you," said Graviton, "Leave now or…"

"Oh, shut the FUCK UP!" roared Shadow Stalker, finally having enough of Gravitons bullshit.

She lifted both crossbows and fired, aiming to hit the unknown Cape in the chest and stomach. Sure, it'd do some damage, but she'd survive and she could spin some tail of saving the scum behind her from the crazy Cape to earn some brownie points. Unfortunately for the Shadow user, her plan wouldn't be so easy to pull off. Graviton simply raised a hand and a barely visible blur of red light appeared around the bolts, causing both to abruptly crash to the ground, sinking into the mud as if they weighed multiple kilograms than they should.

"I see, so you chose Death," said Graviton.

"Screw you," sneered Shadow Stalker, "You don't have the guts to kill me!"

Graviton smirked.

"Should you really be making threats when you can't even hold your weapon?" she asked.

"Huh, what are you…" started Shadow Stalker, before she was cut off as her crossbows suddenly seemed to gain about 100 pounds worth of weight.

The increase in weight was so sudden and so massive, she was forced to let them go, sending both weapons crashing to the ground. For a moment, she stared at the weapons, before she shook her head.

"Tch, so thats it," she muttered, "That whole thing with death and grim reapers is all bullshit. Your power is Gravity."

Graviton smirked and nodded.

"Well, that took less time than I thought it would," she said, "Still, knowing my power won't help you much now that you don't even have your weapons."

"HAH, like I need them," said Shadow Stalker, "I bet your power doesn't work on living targets, does it?"

Graviton raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Shadow Stalker took that as conformation and grabbed two bolts from her quiver, wielding them like daggers as she charged the younger Cape. She quickly reached the other girl and swung her bolts...only for them to waft through empty air.

"When did I say my power doesn't affect living targets?" asked Graviton as she floated down behind Shadow Stalker.

The Shadow users eyes went wide as she slowly turned to look at the other girl.

"Aw…"

Graviton snapped her fingers and Shadow Stalker was slammed into the floor with tremendous force, enough that the ground cracked and was forced up like boney claws. Shadow Stalker would have coughed up her dinner from the force had the increase in gravity not forced everything in her stomach down into her belly, but that didn't stop her bones from creaking dangerously. She couldn't even transform into her shadow form.

"Deaths Thrall is dangerous indeed," said Graviton.

"W-why?" gasped Shadow Stalker, "Why did you help that scumbag?"

"I didn't," said Graviton, "I stopped you. You are supposed to be a Ward."

"So what?" asked Shadow Stalker.

"So that means you don't get to go around torturing people," said Graviton, "If I had not stepped in, you would have killed him."

"Like that matters," sneered Shadow Stalker, "It'd be one less drug addled scumbag."

"Tch, I guess talking to you is pointless," said Graviton, "I just hope that you don't do something stupid. Or at least see where this path is taking you before its too late. My power my not really be tied to death, but I wasn't kidding about the Thrall of Death being a powerful thing. Think about that before you turn your next victim into a pincushion."

She turned and took a few steps, before a faint, red bubble appeared around her and she floated away. Once she was out of sight, the gravity pressing down on Shadow Stalker vanished.

"What does she know," she scoffed as she retrieved her weapons and started heading home, "The only thing that matters in this world is strength…"

 **And done. So, what do you think? Any ideas who Disk is yet? Probably, I didn't really try to hide it.**

 **So, Tattletale and Coil are both experiencing problems related to their Thinker powers and both problems can be traced back to Adam. The question is, why? Well, Coil's is obvious, trying to see any future with an Outsider in is basically impossible, but what about Lisa? Should be interesting, no?**

 **Yeesh, I went overboard on Gravitons melodrama...eh, its just mind games meant to throw her opponents of balance. She won't be that emo most of the time. Incidentally, her costume is Seto's outfit and her mask is obviously based on the hilt of Seto's sword. She might get said sword later, but right now theres really no way for a teenage girl to get her hands on a massive, skull hilted sword without attracting attention.**

 **And with that, I'm done. Don't forget to leave review on the way out!**


	11. Chapter 11: Interlude part 2

Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero

Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

 **...I'm an idiot. This chapter was actually supposed to be a part of the last one, but I was tired and impatient and ended up posting it before I realized that it didn't have everything I wanted. Since I really can't be bothered to delete it and it is effectively complete, I'll just do another Interlude here. Anyway, enjoy!**

Chapter 11: Interlude part 2

For the first time in a very long time, Amy Dallon felt content. She wasn't sure quite why considering the source of her recent changes had been far from pleasant. She doubted anyone would consider the sensation of being tasered and then having a rather large axe slammed into their skull to be pleasant. Still, she couldn't really argue with the result. After waking up from her power nap, she felt more refreshed and energized than ever before, as if all the aches and pains of late nights in the hospital she'd never noticed before had been washed away. Not only that, but the ever gnawing guilt over not attempting to help others every moment of the day was gone. Oh, she still wanted to help people, but she no longer felt that she couldn't take time for herself and recover.

That might have had something to do with the changes to her powers. Oh, she still had her old biokinetic abilities and could heal as easily as before, but she was no longer treated to the lovely sight of other people innards whenever she touched them, instead having to concentrate to get the same view. Then there was her new transformative powers, something that were giving the PRT and her Mother an intense headache. She could transform her body and anything she was wearing into just about anything she could imagine. Other people, animals, even non-living items, as proven when she turned her hand into a working drill and obliterated a concrete slab while undergoing the recommended power test. Add to that a slightly superhuman body that didn't seem to be related to shapeshifting and it was safe to say that she was no longer just a healer.

Another thing that had changed was her relationship with her sister...sort of. One of the things that...whatever had caused the change had apparently washed away was the effect of Vickys aura on Amy, resulting in her losing the (admittedly slightly creepy in hindsight) obsession she had with Vicky. The other was...that.

For one brief moment, Agni and Amy had been connected beyond simple skin on skin contact. For a brief moment, Amy had somehow been able to see EVERYTHING that made up the leader of the Needless, right down to what she could only describe as his Soul. It resembled a sun, vast, powerful and radiating a blazing heat. But thats not all. She had also seen a few fragmented memories, few of which had made any sense, but one had stuck out. A possible future for her, a future in which she had snapped and done unspeakable things to Vicky, both mentally and physically. The sight had been burned into her mind and given her more than a few nightmares. She didn't know exactly what it was that had spurred on her mental breakdown, but she silently vowed to NEVER allow it to happen in this future.

That meant that she could no longer afford to the be the meek, endlessly kind Panacea everyone knew. She needed to get stronger, to be able to stand on her own two feet. And she knew exactly where she could get what she needed to help her do just that.

* * *

Hebert Residence

For the first time in a very long time, Taylor Hebert felt content. The reasons really weren't difficult to figure out. Anyone who had been through what she had would latch onto anyone who offered something even resembling a friendly face and Adam Blade certainly counted. She had been weary at first, unable to believe that the good looking new kid would ever be interested in befriending someone like her, initially suspecting him of planning to use her to get into the Bitch Trio's good books, but after he revealed himself to be Agni, that thought was pretty much swept away.

That, plus the fact he'd helped her, was the initial reason she'd agreed to team up with Agni and Overtech, but her decision was quickly solidified. Both her teammates were almost impossible to dislike after all. Adam was a genuinely good person, despite his insistence that he wasn't a hero and admittedly terrifying anger, and Kanna had quickly become a good friend as well, although she mostly just sat back and watched Overtech and Agni bicker like siblings. Scion, it was hard to believe she'd only known those two for about a week…

"You seem happy this morning," said Danny, snapping Taylor out of her musing.

"Do I?" she asked, "Huh…"

"So, whats the occasion?" asked Danny, "Something good happen at school? New friend? Maybe a boyfriend?"

Taylor's face immediately went atomic.

"N-no, thats not it Dad!" she yelped.

"Mmmhmm," said Danny, giving her a look that said he didn't believe her.

"No really, I don't have a boyfriend," said Taylor forcefully, "I've just made some new friends lately."

"The people you've been hanging out with and going out with the past few days?" asked Danny.

"Thats right," said Taylor, "And don't worry, I'm being careful."

If by careful you mean fighting crime in costume, but there was no way she could tell Danny that. He'd panic and try and either give up crime fighting or force her to join the Wards. While that wasn't really to bad, she liked where she was now thank you very much.

Taylor glanced up at the clock and her eyes widened when she saw the time.

"Damn it, I'm gonna be late!" she gasped, jumping to her feet.

"Be safe!" called Danny as Taylor ran for the door before she missed the bus to school.

 **Bit short, but what do you expect from an interlude? It was longer, but I decided to scrap a good chunk because it was useless and stupid.**

 **Now, before you lot start threatening me with pitchforks and torches over my depiction of Amy, please remember that she is no longer the same character. Due to a combination of Outsider Bullshit and Cape Bullshit, when she was exposed to Adam's Dark Matter infused body, she was able to get a glimpse into the 'Canon' timeline and see a possible future. A bad one. Add in getting every last bit of stress and tension washed out of her body more effectively than a month at a spar, the removal of Vicky's aura's unintended effects and the fact that the changes are focused around her brain and you have plenty of contributing factors to a change in personality.**

 **Taylor was easier, although I do have some plans for the inevitable power reveal scene.**

 **And with that, I'm done. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!**


	12. Chapter 12

Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero

Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

 **And we're back to get on track. Nothing to say here, so lets get started! Enjoy!**

Chapter 12

"Oh god, this is so embarrassing!" I groaned as I banged my head on the table in front of me.

"How can you find it embarrassing?" asked Taylor, "You said it all."

"Yes, but I was fired up at the time," I muttered, "I didn't realize how over the top I was acting until I watched this stupid video!"

"Don't worry Adam, you're acting the fools got us tons of positive reception online," said Kanna.

"Speaking of online, why exactly is the username of the profile you made for me 'Spots'?" asked Taylor.

"Well, your name is Ladybug, so its appropriate," said Kanna, "Plus, theres that."

Taylor and I frowned.

"What?" I asked.

Kanna gave a grin that made both Taylor and I tense. It was the grin she gave when she was about to troll the hell out of someone and we both knew it would be one of us.

"Oh, nothing much," said Kanna, "Its just that her…"

Apparently Taylor figured out what she was going to say as she went white, then bright red, then dove across the table to clap both hands over Kanna's mouth.

"NOOOOOO!" she yelled as she wrapped her arms around Kanna to keep her mouth sealed and prevent her from escaping.

I stared in utter confusion for a moment, before I remembered that this world was apparently taking more and more cues from Needless and I remembered exactly what sort of Anime that was. I snorted.

"Really?" I mused, "Spots? I always took you as the plain white type...or the Armsmaster limited edition print type."

Taylor and Kanna froze in their scuffle as both stared at me.

"What?"

Taylor let out a groan of humiliation as she let go of Kanna and slowly sank to the floor, as if hoping that she could sink into it and disappear.

"Huh, I was expecting her to punch me for that," I muttered, "Guess shes too…"

"HORN!"

WHAM!

"Never mind," I groaned as the massive cloud of bugs that had just slammed me into the wall dissipated.

"Incidentally, why aren't you two at school?" asked Kanna.

"Its nearly noon and you only just ask that?" I muttered.

"Schools closed for some reason," said Taylor, "We got a call this morning telling us not to come in cus there's an investigation of some kind going on."

"Well then, what do you say to going and causing some trouble?" asked Kanna.

"Eh?"

"Your little girlfriends just sent us a message."

I frowned.

"What girlfriend?" I asked as I stood and moved around Kanna's desk to see the message she was talking about.

 _ROBBERY AT THE BANK! NEED HELP!_

Ohhh, yeah, that'd do it. And it was from...Glory Girl. Dandy.

"Sure, sounds like fun," I said, "But how the hell am I supposed to get there? You two can fly after all."

Kanna grinned widely and hopped of her chair, hurrying to the other side of the room where a large object was covered with tarp.

"I was hoping you'd ask that!" she chirped as she grabbed a corner of the tarp, "Introducing your very own transport!"

She pulled the tarp away...and I immediately started drooling when I saw what was underneath. It was a motorbike, sleek and powerful, painted silver with a dark blue windscreen. Just by looking at it, I could see the power hidden under its gleaming body.

"So, you like?" asked Kanna with a grin.

"Ohhhh, most definitely!" I said, not even bothering to ask how she knew I had a motorcycle licence, "Gimme gimme!"

Kanna laughed and tossed me a keyring.

"Alright, lets suit up and get going!" I said, dashing towards a curtained off area we used for changing, shedding my outer clothes as I went.

Kanna and Taylor glanced at each other and shook their heads.

"Men," They said at the same time.

* * *

Alright, I know that Tinkertech is considered to be bullshit by many and I totally agree, but I desperately wanted to know what in the world Kanna had put into my bike to allow it to break the sound barrier and drive on walls, not to mention the fact it was bristling with handy weapons.

"Um, should you really be reading that and driving at the same time?" asked Ladybug as she flew with Kanna above me, both girls easily keeping pace with my bike.

"Calm down Ladybug," said Overtech, "Hes using the autopilot. All he needs to do is make sure he doesn't overshoot the target."

"What she said," I said distractedly as I kept reading the owners manual for my bike Kanna had sent me on the bikes HUD.

"Of course, paying attention so he can get through the upcoming barricade would be useful."

"Huh?"

I looked up, just in time to round the corner a block from the bank and see the mentioned barricade in front of me.

"SHIT!" I yelped, grabbing the handlebars tighter as I deactivated the autopilot and slammed on the brakes, skidding to a stop as the PRT troopers manning the barricade lifted their guns to aim at me.

"HALT!" shouted the lead guard.

"I just did," I said, "Mind letting me through?"

"This area is off limits to civilians," said the guard.

I raised an eyebrow under my mask and glanced down at my outfit. In what universe did a civilian dress like this? Outside of conventions of course.

"Biggs, this guys a Cape!" said the other Guard.

"Thats not the point Wedge," said Biggs, "Our orders are to keep everyone but PRT, Wards and the Protectorate out. Cape or not, we can't let him in."

Now, I would have protested at that, but my mind was locked on another detale.

"...your names are Biggs and Wedge?" I asked.

The two guards visibly twitched at that and turned their heads mechanically to glare at me.

"Don't...fucking...say it," growled Biggs.

I quickly raised my hands in surrender.

"Alright alright," I said, "I bet you've heard them all anyway, working with Clockblocker and all."

Biggs and Wedge twitched again. Yep, thats about what I thought.

"Anyway, sorry, but I can't sit around and chat," I said, "Please let me through or I'll go through anyway."

The two guards tensed.

"Was that a threat?" growled Wedge.

"Nope, I would never threaten a PRT agent," I said innocently, "I'll just go over you."

"I'd like to see you try," said Biggs.

I raised an eyebrow as Wedge gave his partner a flat look.

"Did you really have to say that?" he groaned.

"What?"

"Challenging Capes is always a horrible idea. They always prove you wrong."

I decided to do just that as I was sick of chatting to these idiots. I gunned my bikes engine, spun in a circle and aimed at the gap between the two guards. I grinned as I saw them tensed and released the break, shooting forwards at incredible speed. I was just about to hit the barricade when I flicked a switch on the handlebars.

BOOM!

"WOOHOO!" I whooped as my bike jumped with a short blast of the hidden afterburners, sending me flying over the shocked guards and rocketing down the road on one wheel.

"Biggs and Wedge give you a hard time?" asked Overtech as I caught up with my teammates.

"You really need to stop hacking into secure servers," grumbled Ladybug.

"Nah, no trouble, just rather taken aback," I said, "Now, lets go have some fun!"

I skidded around the corner, bringing the bank into view. My eyes and HUD took in the situation in an instant. Apparently the fight had already started as Aegis dressed as Clockblocker was being tossed around by an oversized, mutant mutt. I smirked as I gunned the engine and keyed in a few commands on the bikes HUD. The windscreen began to glow as I shot forwards, projecting a wedge shaped forcefield around me and the bike.

"Target locked," said a robotic voice.

My grin widened as I tensed and jumped straight off the bike as it kept going and plowed straight into the dog, sending it and Aegis flying in a blast of blue light and a pulse of force that blew a massive crater in the road. I used the momentum of the impact to fly straight into a cloud of Grue's darkness where I slammed my hand into the Darkness user.

BOOM!

The resulting blast sent the black clad teen flying and forcefully dissipated the cloud of darkness to reveal a stunned looking Regent.

"Hi," I said with a smirk, before kicking the Master in the chest and sending him flying into Bitch with a crash.

There was a loud bark from behind me as one of the dogs pounced at me, only to take a massive axe to the side of the head, sending it flying into the wall of the building, followed by the last dog as Ladybug used a massive fist made up of insects that hit far harder than it should and sent it flying when it tried to pounce at her.

"Afternoon fellas," I said, "Fancy seeing you here."

 **And done. I know its a tad short, but that seems like a good place to end it. Next time, the Battle, but things'll go a tad different.**

 **Would you believe I'm not done with underwear based jokes yet? What? This may be primarily Worm, but its also Needless and that has a moment where the main character genuinely recognizes someone by her stripy undies.**

 **WHOO, AWESOME TINKER BIKE! For those interested, I based the design on Johanna, Makoto's Persona from P5, minus the face on the front. Also, no its not destroyed already. Its got a function that turns it into an invulnerable battering ram.**

 **Yes, I went there. Biggs and Wedge are officially part of Needless Hero canon as a pair of no-named guards I needed some names for. Hey, if FF can do it, I can as well!**

 **And with that done, its time for me to sign off! Next time, the Needless vs the Undersiders! Should be fun. Don't forget to leave a review!**


	13. Chapter 13

Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero

Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

 **And we're back to get on track. Nothing to say here, so lets get started! Enjoy!**

Chapter 13

For a moment, total silence settled over the area as both the Wards and Undersiders tried to absorb our sudden and badass entrance, before Regent let out a groan.

"Great, thats all we need," he grumbled, "More heroes…"

He tilted his head on one side and I got the distinct impression he was scanning us, before his gaze landed on Overtech.

"Tch, and they brought a kid along as well."

Ladybug and I winced as Overtech stilled. She HATED being underestimated because of her age. We'd learnt that the hard way when Taylor had protested at the idea of sparing with her and ended up getting the beating of a lifetime as Kanna proved without a doubt that her tech wasn't her only skill. She was also a skilled brawler and boy did she fight dirty.

"Ohh, you're gonna regret that!" I said.

Bitch and Grue tensed but Regent just scoffed.

"Oh? And whats she gonna do?" he asked, "Pull my hair?"

I winced again as I heard the sound of grinding teeth coming off Overtech. Yeah, she was pissed.

"Don't…" she started, lifting her axe above her head, "You…"

The axe began to shift and change.

"Dare…"

Ladybug and I paled under our masks and I dove for cover as Ladybug shot straight up out of the line of fire.

"Underestimate…"

Grue and Bitch apparently figured out that remaining in the line of fire was probably a bad idea and decided to hit the deck. Yeah, that wouldn't help.

"ME!" finished Overtech as she brought her weapon down, revealing a massive cannon that was glowing brightly with white light.

"Aww shit," muttered Regent, apparently relizing his fuckup.

Overtech pulled the trigger and a massive bolt of white energy erupted from the cannon and shot towards the Undersiders. Despite the fact they'd dropped, including Regent at this point, as the bolt passed over them, it simply sucked them in and kept going, crashing through the doors and into the lobby of the bank. A moment later, there was a massive blast of light and a boom that shook the floor. There was a moments silence, before someone spoke up.

"Well...that was overkill," said Clockblocker in Aegus costume as the Wards slowly approached us.

"It was his own fault," grumbled Overtech.

"That it was," said Vista with a grin, "You'd think people'd learn not to underestimate Capes based on appearances."

"You said it!" said Overtech.

"While we appreciate the help, I have to ask, what are you three doing here?" asked Aegis as the Ward leader approached.

I gave a twisted grin under my mask and flexed my fingers, causing the knuckles to crack and start letting out a humming sound as my power cranked up to the levels where it would be utterly deadly.

"If you think we're here to help you, don't," I said, making the Wards tense, "I'm just interested in fighting a team who managed to escape from the Protectorate more than once! This is gonna be fun!"

The Wards present all stared at me.

"Your...in this for a fight?" asked Gallant slowly.

"He is, we're actually here to help," said Ladybug.

"Speak for yourself, I just wanna kick Regents ass now!" said Overtech.

"Alright, I'm through talking," I said, my impacents for battle finally getting the best of me, "You guys should focus on getting the freed hostages out of the way."

I shot a glare at Aegis who had been about to protest.

"Whatever you do, do not try to interfere."

Without waiting for an answer, I jumped, clearing the distance between me and the bank door in one leap with Overtech on my tail. Ladybug followed a moment later as we entered the bank...only to nearly get blasted back out as Glory Girl was sent flying into us at incredible speed. I managed to catch her, digging my feet into the floor to stop us from falling over.

"Thanks," grunted Glory Girl as she stumbled to her feet.

"No problem, but what the hell happened?" I asked.

Glory Girl opened her mouth to respond, but she was interrupted before she could by a new voice.

"HAH, these maggots are the ones who kicked your arse?" sneered a female voice, "Pathetic! Why am I saddled with you useless fools?"

I blinked at the unexpected voice and looked towards the source. Stood in a door leading further into the bank alongside Tattletale (who was holding Amy hostage) was a girl who I'm pretty sure wasn't originally a member of the Undersiders. She wasn't very tall and had her dark brown hair in pigtails with magnet themed pins and was wearing a black and white striped dress that fell to just above her ankle with a pair of small wings at the back, a red ribbon on her chest and a pair of black boots. Her face was currently twisted into a demented grin that could probably outdo mine when I was fired up and her eyes were hidden behind a black domino mask that did nothing to hide the sadistic gleam in her eyes.

"She happened," growled Glory Girl, "I've no idea how she did it, but she somehow threw me through three walls without touching me. I couldn't even stop myself from moving. I think its some kind of telekinesis."

The girl apparently heard Glory Girl as her grin widened.

"Oh, is that what you think?" she asked, "Well then, why don't you have another look?"

She held up her hands and a pale blue, transparent orb appeared over her palm.

"Anti: Teller desks!"

In response, the desks at the back of the room glowed faintly, before shooting towards us at incredible speed. I scowled and stepped in front of my friends, my hands lighting up even more. As the first desk approached, I slammed my palm into it and it exploded, followed by the others as they hit the destroyed desks. The new girl looked grudgingly impressed at that.

"Not bad maggot," she said.

I scowled under my mask.

"I want her," I said shortly.

The girls grin widened, but before she could respond, Tattletale spoke up.

"Hey hey hey, no fighting!" she shouted, "That goes for you too Predator!"

She shot a glare at the Magnetism user as she looked like she was about to protest.

"Or did you forget we have a hostage?" finished the Thinker as she turned her attention back to us.

"Do you now?" I asked.

Tattletale frowned, apparently a little taken aback by my nonchalante dismissal of Amy. Glory Girl and my teammates seemed equally taken aback as the blond turned to glare at me. I ignored her though and raised my voice.

"Alright Amy, please stop messing around. I know you can get lose whenever you want."

Tattletales frown deepened and she opened her mouth. Before she could say anything though, her eyes widened in shock, right before a fist slammed into her jaw, sending her flying. Amy spun around, her hand morphing into a drill as she did, before lunging at Predator. The girl scoffed and waved a hand, capturing Amy in another bubble and sending her flying straight at us.

As she flew past, I swiped a hand through the bubble and, as I expected, it popped at my red hot touch. Looks like I was right, she did have Magnetic World. I grinned. That would make life easier for me. With the bubble gone, Amy flipped to bleed off momentum and hit the wall, bouncing off to land with us.

"You OK sis?" asked Glory Girl.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Amy as the small cut on her throat finished vanishing, "Give me a sec to suit up and we can get started."

She closed her eyes and green light began to pour out of her body and her clothes unraveled into their component pieces, before reforming into...Eves battle outfit. Fair enough. Finally, the girls frizzy brown hair straightened and turned blue. She grinned and spun her drill hand.

"Doppelganger, ready for battle!" she said.

I raised an eyebrow at the unexpectedly energetic girl.

"Er, rebranding?" I asked.

"Well, my powers are different, so I might as well," she said, "Besides, it wouldn't feel right to use the name of a healer for battle."

"Well, when you put it like that," I said.

"Tch, annoying maggots," sneered Predator, "Fine, looks like we'll have to fight after all."

She threw out her hands.

"Attract: Undersiders!"

There was a flash of blue light and a large hole in the floor nearby exploded as her missing teammates were pulled lose and shot towards her, dumping them at her feet. At the same time, Bitch's dogs came bounding over our heads and ran to their mistress as she and the others hit by Overtech's attack slowly stood.

"Alright you lot, my Dads paying us a lot of money, so we really can't afford to screw this up," said Predator, "Escape is not an option any more."

She grinned darkly.

"At least not until we take out these maggots."

I grinned my own dark grin as I held up my hands, my palms lighting up with a dull humm as the air around me began to heat up.

"I'd like to see you try," I said as my teammates readied their weapons and powers.

The Undersiders tensed as their apparent leaders grin only widened.

"WITH PLEASURE!" she roared, a magnetic field appearing around each hand.

And with that, the battle was joined.

 **I almost feel bad about leaving this here, but honestly, both Worm and Needless do worse all the time. Plus, it'll give me some time to consider how I'm actually gonna do it.**

 **Solva's awesome, so it was honestly only a matter of time before I added her to the roster. Considering her personality, she could only be a villain, but I couldn't decide where to put her. E88 didn't seem to fit and I really didn't want to add another bunch of nutcases to the already saturated underworld. Then I had an idea. Make her one of Coil's and, as an added bonus, shes his daughter. Yeah, that ain't gonna end well!**

 **For those interested, Predator's power is to create and control magnetic fields that allow her to attract or repel any object. She usually speaks what her target is to help her focus. Her limit is 100 meters.**

 **Yes, I rebranded Panacea. What of it? Like she said, using the name of a healer for a combat cape doesn't seem right.**

 **And with that, I'm done. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!**


	14. Chapter 14

Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero

Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

 **And we're back to get on track. Nothing to say here, so lets get started! Enjoy!**

Chapter 14

It was utter chaos. I mean, battles usually are, but you don't really get an idea of just how difficult keeping track of multiple people can be in a fight. Overtech made a beeline for Regent and smacked the Master across the room with her axe, Ladybug and Grue started duelling, with Ladybug's bugs trying to find the shadow user in his darkness, Glory Girl started brawling with Bitchs dogs and Doppelganger shot towards Tattletale, who was quickly put on the defensive, dodging the shapeshifters drill arm. I on the other hand clashed with Predator in a flurry of glowing fists as heat and magnetic fields clashed and exploded in small red and blue blasts.

Suddenly, Predator flung her hand out and I found myself flying backwards towards the open vault door. It didn't take much to determine what her plan was, so I decided to head her off before she could even try to put it into action. My hands lit up and I swiped my hand through the barely visible bubble around me, causing it to dissipate and drop me to the floor. Predator made a noise of anger as she slowly floated to the ground in her own bubble.

"How the fuck are you doing that?" she growled.

I smirked as the air around me began to waver in the heat my body was starting to put out.

"Don't you know?" I asked, "A magnetic fields molecular alignment is scattered when exposed to extreme heat. You really should know the basic physics that apply to your powers, especially when they could potentially give your opponent an advantage!"

I charged, my hands lighting up again. Predator's eyes widened and she quickly flung herself back out of range with the aid of another magnetic field, causing my strike to miss and bury itself in the marble floor.

"HAH, thats a joke!" she sneered, "You might be able to dispel my fields, but that won't stop me from throwing things at you! Your a Striker, so if you can't get close to me, you can't hurt me!"

I smirked.

"Oh really?" I said.

Predator's smirk faltered, before the floor below her cracked and a massive blast of fire erupted, catching the hem of her dress alight as she threw herself back, just in time to avoid being charbroiled.

"My powers deal in molecular vibrations to create intense heat," I said as I pulled my hands free, "So long as there's a medium for the vibrations to travel through, my attacks will always hit you."

Predator scowled as she stomped out her burning skirt.

"Thats a pain," she grumbled, "Still, your power seems to be limited to the palms of your hands."

I raised an eyebrow behind my mask, but before I could say anything, I noticed Predator's eyes slip from me to something...behind...me.

"CRAAAAA!" I yelled as something big and heavy slammed into me, knocking me flat and pinning my arms to the ground with the palms facing up.

I tilted my head up as best I could to see one of Bitchs dogs looming over me. Apparently, it had disengaged from the fight with Glory Girl and the other two and Bitch were managing to keep the blond heroine occupied that she couldn't help. I turned my eyes back on Predator as she stalked over and lifted a rather large chunk of concrete over her head.

"Any last words?" she sneered.

"Just this," I said, "When did I say I was limited to just my hands?"

Predator blinked, before a look of horror crossed her face.

"Oh, you son of a…" she started, but it was too late.

I grinned maniacally as my entire body started glowing, the subaudible hum that accompanied my powers making the air around us shake.

"Incinerate Anthem: CRIMSON LOTUS!" I yelled before the world went white and exploded.

The blast was so intense that it melted a good chunk of ground underneath me, vaporized any wood within five meters, blasted everyone in the room off their feet and blew out the windows. The only reason Predator and the dog holding me down weren't killed in the blast was thanks to her reflexes allowing her to throw up multiple layers of magnetic shields and the enhancements made to it by Bitch, but that didn't stop the blast from sending them flying and landing them with third degree burns. They would NOT be fighting anymore today.

"Hehe, it might be corny, but what the hell," I said as I stood, "JUDGEMENT EXECUTION!"

I drew a cross in the air as the Cape and mutated dog crashed back to the ground behind me. A moment later, Bitch and the other two dogs joined them as Glory Girl punted one of the dogs into its fellow and distracted Mistress, sending the whole lot flying and knocking Bitch unconscious. Next up, Regent slammed into the ground, groaning in pain from a clearly broken arm, his stick missing and his costume torn, followed by Grue, who's costume was torn up, revealing dark skin covered in bug bites and stings, and Tattletale, who was looking more than a little bruised and battered.

"Well, that was fun," said Doppelganger as she walked over, her hand morphing back to normal as she did, "I should have joined you guys on the field sooner."

"Mum'd never allow that," said Glory Girl as she floated down beside her sister.

"Hehehe, I do love it when a plan comes together," said a grinning Overtech as she landed on my other side, spinning Regents stick around her fingers as she rested her axe over her shoulders.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you were right about fights being fun Agni," said Ladybug as she landed beside Overtech, her swarm buzzing around her like a dark cloud.

"Sorry I let that dog get past me by the way," said Glory Girl.

"Aww, don't worry about it," I said, "It gave me just the opening I needed and taught everyone a valuable lesson. Don't ever make assumptions at your opponent's ability and NEVER let your guard down."

"Good advice," said Overtech as she pulled out a handful of futuristic looking handcuffs, "Now, since we're here, lets get these guys chained up and hand em over to the PRT."

At that, Predator let out a pained scoff.

"Now whos underestimating their opponent?" she hissed as she struggled to her feet.

I raised an eyebrow as I scanned the team of thieves. Other than Tattletale, every one of them had injuries bad enough to need medical attention and I'm pretty sure that the only reason Tattletale wasn't the same was because of her power and Doppelganger's lack of experience in combat.

"You really think you can keep fighting in that condition?" I asked.

"No, I'm not that stupid," said Predator, "But you really think my Father would send us here without a backup escape plan?"

I frowned as the girl reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, black tube. She flicked the top open and grinned at me.

"See ya Agni," she said, "And next time, I'm gonna tear you apart!"

Overtech's eyes widened.

"Thats a teleporter!" she yelled, "STOP THEM!"

Unfortunately, the warning came to late and Predator had already touched the button. The Undersiders vanished in a flash of light, just in time for the doors to slam open and a squad of PRT troops to storm into the lobby, followed by the Wards and Miss Militia. They were also just in time to be treated to a rather inventive barrage of curses from yours truly as my rage at the Undersiders getting away, coupled with the fact my battlelust was still roaring high sent me over the edge. My teammates stumbled back as a frankly massive amount of heat erupted of my body, melting the marble at my feet.

The rage felt like lava in my blood, a seering feeling that surged through me on a destructive path that would destroy everything in its path if it could just get out. My battlelust surged with my rage, pushing me to find someone, ANYONE and tear them to pieces. It didn't matter who, so long as they were strong enough to fight back and state my drive for battle. All I had to do was...

"AGNI, CALM DOWN!" roared Ladybug, cutting through the crimson mist like a hot knife through butter.

It didn't dissipate the rage or battlelust, but it did allow my conscious mind to snap back into gear. I immediately grabbed my rage, my battle lust, my frustration and everything that was currently blinding me and wrestled it down, shoving it in a locked box at the back of my mind to be dealt with later and reigning in my power while I was at it.

I opened my eyes and blinked when I saw I was stood in a puddle of molten rock. This was starting to become uncomfortably common. I'm just glad that my heat resistance extends to my clothing...somehow. Powers are bullshit.

I shook my head, dispelling the last of the bloody haze, climbed out of the red hot pool and looked around. Glory Girl, Doppelganger and the Wards were arguing with the PRT troopers, who seemed to be trying to point their foam sprayers at me, while Overtech was holding a barrier between us and them and Ladybug eyed me worriedly.

"Don't worry, I'm back," I said, raising my voice, "I'm not gonna melt anyone."

The Troopers didn't look convinced, in fact, they looked like they were about to open fire. I flexed my fingers, ready to defend myself if it came to it. PRT or not, I would NOT be walked over by paranoid morons. Fortunately for the Troopers just doing their jobs, Miss Militia chose that moment to step in.

"Stand down, all of you!" she snapped.

"But Ma'am…" started one of the troopers, only to quail under the patriotic hero's glare.

"Enough," said Miss M as her knife turned into a large assault rifle, "Destructive anger aside, Agni is not our enemy and will not be treated as such. Am I clear?"

"Understood," growled the trooper, backing down, although he clearly wasn't pleased by it.

"Right, now I'm back on track, is everyone OK?" I asked as I looked around at my teammates.

It hadn't been a complete steamroll of the Undersiders and, while no one was badly hurt, everyone was bruised and dirty, even Glory Girl. Overtech had a burn mark on her stomach that looked like it had been caused by a taser and had a nasty bruise on her cheek, Ladybug was holding her side in a way that suggested Grue had managed to get a hit or two in, although considering she could fly, I have no idea how he managed that, Glory Girl was mostly unharmed, although her hair was a mess and she was probing a rather impressive shiner and Doppelganger...was looking as good as she had when she went into battle. I guess being able to morph ones body and clothes makes recovering from fights easy.

"Yeah, we're all fine," said Overtech, "Just superficial injuries. To be honest, I think the Undersiders are much the same, other than Predator."

I nodded. That was good and not completely unexpected. After all, the Undersiders lacked really heavy hitters, other than Bitch and apparently Predator and those two went up against our heavy hitters, so it pretty much evened out.

I turned as Miss Militia approached with Aegis.

"Report," she said.

I raised an eyebrow, but didn't protest.

"Undersiders dealt with, but they escaped with what looked like a teleporter," I said, "Most likely Tinkertech."

Miss Militia let out an annoyed sounding huff (although how a huff can sound annoyed I have no idea) and shook her head.

"Damn, I thought we had them this time," she grumbled, "Still, you have my thanks for the help."

She sighed.

"The director has ordered us to try and push the Wards onto you three, but I know a losing battle when I see one, so I won't waste my breath," she said.

"Good plan," I said with a smirk.

Miss Militia nodded and walked off towards a forlorn looking man in a suit who was probably the bank manager judging from the way he was looking at the utter distriction that was the lobby. I turned away and towards Glory Girl and Doppelganger.

"Thanks for the assist you two," I said, "Taking on all five plus those mutts would have been a pain in the neck."

"Don't worry about it," said Glory Girl, "Thanks for coming to help."

I shrugged.

"I did sort of owe you one," I said, "Anyway, we should go."

"Don't be a stranger!" called Doppelganger as I headed over to join my teammates at the door.

We left the bank and I tapped a few hidden buttons on my bracer. Kid Win, who had been examining my bike in its crater with a look of glee on his face, let out a yelp as the bike suddenly roared to life and blasted itself free with a short repulser burst. It roared past the step at the perfect speed for me to leap onto it and take control, roaring away from the bank with my teammates on my heels.

* * *

I couldn't help but grin as I drove through the streets. Despite the fact that the Undersiders had gotten away and apparently had Solva on their side, the fight had gone rather well. As an added bonus, I had discovered a potential issue with my battlelust in a situation that wasn't to volatile, which meant I'd be able to mitigate the problem in the future. All in all, a productive day. Now why did I feel like I'd forgotten something about these events?

 **And done. Well, that was fun. I hope I did a good job of the fight, even if I did only show Agni's. I've learnt not to try and do multiple fights at the same time. It doesn't end well for me.**

 **I...actually don't have anything else to say here….eh, what the hell, I got stuff I need to do anyway. Next time will be another interlude covering the aftermath, someone a little different and Coil's epic failure to take Dinah. Should be fun. Anyway, don't forget to leave a review!**


	15. Chapter 15: Interlude

Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero

Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

 **And we're back to get on track. Nothing to say here, so lets get started! Enjoy!**

Chapter 15: Interlude

Alcott household

Coils goons were ready. It had taken a lot of planning and preparation on the part of both the criminal mastermind and the chosen agents for the mission. That, combined with Coil's power and the many different distractions Col had planned meant that this should have been an easy job. Get in, deal with the babysitter, grab the girl and go. Hell, at first it seemed that it would be even easier as the babysitter, a young woman with short black hair with red highlights, was asleep on the sofa, despite the fact it was the middle of the day. They had been told to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, so, so long as the girl didn't wake up, she'd be, at most, fired. Or possibly sued. Either way, it was no skin of the noses of the thugs.

The hired goons slowly made their way upstairs, careful to keep from making any unnecessary noise, and quickly located the little girls room, helped along by the glittery sign on the door that announced it as Dinah's room.. The agents quickly took up positions by the door. They didn't really think she'd give them any trouble, but you never could tell with Capes. The leader held up a hand and the goon closest to the door eased it open, revealing a room that definitely belonged to a little girl with the apparent owner of said room and their target sitting in the middle playing with a stuffed animal.

The team leader frowned slightly. Something wasn't right. The girl they were sent to get had dark brown hair, right? The little girl in the room had dark red hair, cut in a bob. Still, they were sent here to get the girl and her hair was dark enough to be seen as brown in the right light, so he'd follow orders. He gave another signal to his men and the goon by the door opened it fully, stepping into the room. As he did, the girl looked up, her dark brown eyes widening at the sight of the tall, masked man.

"Alright girly, come quietly and you won't get hurt," growled the goon as he reached for the girl.

The girl reacted predictably by screaming and swinging her stuffed toy at the man...sending him flying into and through the wall, taking out another two men who had been unlucky enough to be stood on the other side. The leaders eyes widened in shock. Where the hell did that come from?! The girl might be a Cape, but she was supposed to be a Thinker, not a Brute!

He was about to give his men an order to take the girl down, but before he could, a sweet scent invaded his nostrils.

"Whats that...GAHH!"

He screamed in pain as his muscles suddenly locked up, filling his body with the sensation of broken glass being driven into his limbs. He was barely aware of his men screaming as they too fell under the effect of the scent as he slumped against the wall, just as another girl stepped out of the room across from the girls bedroom. She was young, with long, wavy blond hair and light brown eyes, wearing a yellow and black dress with a white fan on her arm that was apparently the source of the scent as it was blowing out a faint cloud of pink dust.

"Well, it looks like Dinah's predictions were right on the money, again," said a voice as the babysitter from downstairs suddenly appeared out of thin air, "Coil did make his play today."

Now she was up, the leader could see that she was wearing a white blouse, a wide, blue skirt and brown thigh high boots. Her eyes were blue and her black and red hair stuck up at the back, giving the impression of speed.

"W-who are you?" hissed the leader through the pain.

The apparent lead girl smiled thinly, before her body seemed to flicker. She flicked her hand, sending the blood that now covered it splattering across the floor as the paralyzed goons all gasped through ruined throats as their life blood flowed freely.

"We are the Scythe," she said, "Speed, Power and Fragrance. We are Lord Saten's instrument in dealing with fools who try to take what is his."

The man swallowed. This was bad, really really bad. They had come expecting a helpless little girl, most of their preparations had been a just in case the girl managed to call someone if her powers tipped her off, but they hadn't expected to end up fighting three Capes with actual combat applicable powers!

"Luckily for you, you get to live," said Speed, "At least until you tell Coil that Dinah Alcott is off limits. If he tries to get her again, we won't be so merciful."

The thug never even saw the foot that knocked him unconscious.

* * *

Coil's base

Coil suddenly jolted in his desk chair as his head suddenly felt as if someone had rammed an axe into it. At the same time, the timelines he had active suddenly jerked and changed, revealing that, what had been two successful kidnappings of his newest pet, had gone horribly, horribly wrong. The entire team was dead, bar the leader, who had been knocked unconscious by an unknown female Cape who apparently worked for...Saten.

Coil bit by a curse. Saten and his group had been a thorn in his side for years and a big reason as to why he was in Brockton Bay. It was one of the few cities where the Black Spot had no branches, but now that had apparently changed. This was going to get messy.

* * *

The Cauldron

Contessa took a deep breath as she flexed her fingers, trying to relax as much as she could, strapped to the table as she was.

"One last time, are you sure about this?" asked Doctor Mother, "You know that if the dose is even slightly wrong, you will die."

"I know, but this NEEDS to be done," said Contessa, "Otherwise, we won't stand a chance."

Doctor Mother stared down at her oldest and best agent for a moment, before nodding and leaving the room. Contessa took another breath as she tried to keep from looking at the bag of slowly bubbling, reddish black fluid that was about to be pumped into her system. For the last few days, her powers had been acting up, the paths that were normally so clear becoming foggy and twisted, leaving only one clearly visible, although even that one was partly hidden. With little choice, Contessa had followed the path and ended up stumbling on something...strange.

Located in a cave hidden under Brockton bay, the woman had discovered a massive, desiccated body of...something. What it was, she had no idea, but her powers had chosen that moment to go completely out of control. On one hand, they were screaming at her to get as far away from it as possible, but on the other, the paths suddenly became clear. She needed this thing if they ever hoped to defeat Scion without massive casualties.

With that in mind, she had ignored the warnings for the first time and called in the teams to examine the creature and take samples. It was then that they discovered that getting even a tiny amount of the creatures corpse into a Human body was both deadly and messy after one of the scientists had accidentally dropped a container of the creatures blood and cut himself on a piece of it. Almost immediately, he had swollen up and exploded, covering the entire team in gore.

Despite that, her powers had directed her to collect a sample from the remains of the creatures heart and mixed it with her own blood. The resulting fluid was a slowly boiling mess that she swore she occasionally saw faces form in and generally looked extremely unhealthy.

"Alright Contessa, I'm beginning the procedure," said Doctor Mother over the PA system as she settled in the control booth.

They had no idea what would happen, so they were using one of the rooms usually used for experiments on Case 53s. Contessa nodded and braced herself. This was gonna hurt. Doctor Mother flicked the switch and Contessa found her eyes being drawn to the bag against her will as the thick liquid slowly began to ooze its way towards her body through the tubes connected to her. It took a moment to reach her and then...PAIN.

It was unlike anything Contessa had ever felt in her life. It felt like someone had injected molten lead into her veins while compressing her head in an industrial press. Her powers immediately went completely haywire, not helping the headache in the slightest. She could vaguely hear someone screaming and sumized that it was likely her. The pain and pressure continued to build until she was sure that either her head was going to explode or she would lose her mind. Then…everything stopped and her powers snapped back into focus.

The first thing she saw was two figures engaged in a fierce fist fight in the air above an ocean. One was obviously Scion, but the other was hidden in shadow, with the only thing obvious being the tattered cloak they were wearing and the glowing markings that covered his body.

Then, the vision shifted, showing something similar to a zodiac wheel, with 12 silhouettes, each with a strange symbol somewhere on their body, surrounding a 13th in the center of the circle. She couldn't see who they were, but she knew how to find them. Her power pointed her towards the cloaked figure, the central piece, the lynchpin for everything. If she could find him, they would win.

Contessa's eyes snapped open and she jumped off the table, completely missing the fact she'd just torn through the restraints like it was nothing, and hurried from the room to get started. Doctor Mother, still in the control room, was so taken aback by the apparent boost in strength that it took her a moment to scramble after her right hand in a manner that was quite out of character for her. Neither woman noticed that a symbol had appeared on Contessa's lower back.

* * *

Dallon household

Carol was feeling rather torn. She was currently sitting in her living room, watching her daughters spar in the back garden, something that, until the encounter with Agni, had never happened before as Amy had prefered to focus on healing. Since then however, the girl had changed. Oh, she was still extraordinarily kind and spent a lot of time helping at the hospital, but she seemed to have lost the endless sense of guilt that consistently weighed her down. Carol didn't know if that was good or bad.

On one hand, Amy was happier than she had ever been before and clearly in a much better place mentally, but on the other, that smile of hers was so much like Marquis that it made Carol feel ill. The changes in Amy's powers certainly didn't help. There had been a moment when Amy was being tested when she had created a cage of bone from her fingers, right before she had converted it into solid steel. For a brief moment, the image of Marquis had been overlaid on the girl. She even moved in a similar way to the bone user when she fought.

Except...that wasn't true was it? While there was no doubt that Amy's smile was physically similar to her birth fathers, it carried with it completely different emotions. Watching her daughters fight now, she could clearly see that. Marqus' smile carried a mocking edge, a sense that he was barely taking anyone else seriously, but Amy's carried only a fierce joy as she blocked Vicky's superpowered punch with a metal shield that had been her arm. Her movements were similar, but Amy's were far more direct, lacking any of the style and flourish that Marquis had.

It was rather ironic, but now that Amy was more like her Father than she had ever been, Brandish found that she could no longer see her as just Marquis daughter. Perhaps it was those similarities that made the differences between father and daughter stand out that much more. No matter how hard she tried, Carol just couldn't picture Amy ever becoming like Marquis. The chances of that happening was about the same as Kieser and Lung sitting down for tea and scones at that disgustingly twee little cafe on the Boardwalk.

Carol sighed as she drained the last of her coffee. She didn't really want to, but she knew she'd need to do it eventually. It was time for THAT conversation with her Daughter. She headed outside, not really noticing the change in mental label for Amy.

* * *

Hebert household

Danny Hebert was not a stupid man. Far from it actually. He was also not a man who missed details, a trait that served him well as the spokesperson for the Dockworkers association. He knew that he and Taylor were nowhere near as close as they used to be, but that didn't mean that he didn't miss the signs. He was well aware that she was unhappy, but the rift between them left him wondering just what he could do about it, not that he knew what she was unhappy about to do anything about said issues.

However, recently, he had noticed that Taylor seemed happier, more open, resulting in them having actual conversations at dinner rather than just awkward smalltalk. The conversations often ended up turning to the subject of Taylor's new friends, although he did note that she rarely spoke about what they actually did. He might have worried that she'd joined a gang or something, but he decided that, unless she started coming home with injuries every day or he found something incriminating in her room, he'd give her the benefit of the doubt.

Well, mostly. One of the friends she spoke about quite a bit was a young man called Adam who she seemed to hold in rather high regard. Naturally, as a Father, Danny's mind took the idea of his teenage daughter holding a teenage boy in apparent high regard while not really talking about what they did while out and about, put them together and decided that he really didn't like this young man, followed by the fact that he really needed to meet and get the metal of said young man.

Solely to get to know his daughters friends of course. Its not like he planned to threaten Adam with a blow torch from work or anything.

 **And with that, I'm done. Quite a range of POV's here and hoo boy was it a pain to write. So, lets start from the top.**

 **Satens goons are in town and already kicking arse, although considering how strong those three are, its not really that surprising. I'm really looking forwards to pitting Agni and his team against the Scythe. Should be fun.**

 **Coils boned and Brockton Bay may or may not be on the verge of a rather nasty gang war.**

 **Hmm, the Cauldron is cooking something and I highly doubt its good news for everyone.**

 **Carol's bit is the one I'm most worried about. I think I did a good job of her, but I dare say I'll get blasted for something. Then again, I didn't get any backlash for Panacea, so myabe not…**

 **Danny's going into protective Father mode and coming to completely the wrong conclusions about Adam and Taylor. This is actually a precursor to the whole 'I'm a Cape' conversation thats inevitably gonna happen and soon. Should be fun. I wonder if you can guess what I have in mind?**

 **And with that, I'm done. Don't forget to leave a review on your way out!**


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